Innovative biostimulants improve yield of cucumber grown in date palm waste as a sustainable soilless substrate

Greenhouse technology requires relevant innovations to enhance food sustainability and to empower crop production under soilless culture. In Saudi Arabia, date palm waste (DPW) is a locally available substrate, with the potential to be an alternative sustainable substrate for soilless culture. In addition, one of the global sustainable solutions is using beneficial microbial biostimulants for increasing vegetable yield and quality in a greenhouse full agronomic cycle. To improve yield of cucumber grown in sand and DPW substrates, under controlled greenhouse compartments, seeds of Cucumis sativus ‘Zahran F1’ were coated with the biostimulants, then the seedlings were arranged in a Venlo-type greenhouse covered with standard tempered glass, whereas plants were supplied 3 times with the inoculate suspension through the growing cycle. Three weeks post transplanting, GROWBIOM biostimulants resulted better growth performance for plants grown in DPW in comparison to sand culture. By the end of the experiment, the innovated GROWBIOM biostimulant significantly increased fruit yield of inoculated plants by 10% and 11% in sand and DPW, respectively, in comparison to non-inoculated plants. Biostimulant serve as a sustainable bridge to enhance commercial greenhouse technology in KSA. In this respect, we are introducing the application of the biostimulants to soilless DPW substrate as a novel practice to improve production of controlled greenhouses and increase the sustainability of local available substrates in KSA.