Using silicon-based biostimulant and phosphorus application as an alternative solution for beetroot (Beta vulgaris L.) grown under multi-stress in South Africa: a short review
Adverse environmental stressors such as moisture deficit, soil acidity, and nutrient deficiency, particularly phosphorus (P) due to climate change as single and combined multi-stress, are gradually threatening food security globally.
Therefore, modern agriculture faces pressing challenges where novel strategies must be developed for sustainable food production and security, particularly in developing countries like South Africa.
The authors conducted a desktop review on various vegetables and other commercial crops.
At most, the authors maintained 15 years of research material, constituting research articles, review articles, book chapters, theses, research short communications, and industrial short communications.
Abiotic stress as a leading stress factor tends to co-occur, causing severe consequences for plant growth and the quality of horticultural species such as beetroot (Beta vulgaris L.), and this has been more prevalent in South Africa recently, where multi-stress factors are a problem to the emerging farmers.
Beetroot is well-known as the second most crucial sugar-producing crop after sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.), contributing to about 40% of world sugar production.
However, successful beetroot production has been recorded widely depending on agronomic and environmental factors such as moisture deficit and P-deficiency.
These are considered critical limiting factors reducing the beetroot yield from 5 to 30% globally.
In South Africa, it has been further observed that a combination of soil moisture stress and P assimilation are contributing significantly to the losses in the production yields of beetroot, particularly in Highveld areas such as the Mpumalanga Province; thus, multi-stress remains a challenge for emerging and subsistence farmers in South Africa.
Therefore, this review focuses on developing the mitigating strategy using a combination of silicon-based biostimulant and the P application to improve the P assimilation, growth, and yield of beetroot grown under adverse multi-stress in South Africa.
Sadiki, L.C., Van Der Watt, E., Masowa, M.M. and Khetsha, Z.P. (2025). Using silicon-based biostimulant and phosphorus application as an alternative solution for beetroot (Beta vulgaris L.) grown under multi-stress in South Africa: a short review. Acta Hortic. 1416, 185-192
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1416.24
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1416.24
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1416.24
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1416.24
environmental stress factors, horticulture, phosphate, plant stress, vegetables
English
1416_24
185-192