Application of Growth Activators and Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria as a Method of Introducing a “Farm to Fork” Strategy in Crop Management of Winter Oilseed

Abstract

In the European Union, out of concern for the quality of the natural environment, agriculture aims to limit the doses of mineral nitrogen to mitigate nitrogen leaching into the groundwater and N2O emissions into the atmosphere. This requires a search for new crop management for more environmentally friendly production. The aim of the study was to evaluate crop management technologies that would allow farmers to obtain high yields without high doses of nitrogen fertilizers. The study was conducted in Poland in 2016–2017 and 2018–2019 to test the effects of growth activators without an additional product and with a product containing plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria in the production of winter oilseed rape, reducing the nitrogen dose by 30%. The results obtained in the study show a positive effect of the studied treatments on seed yield, which was higher by 9.8 and 7.7%, and fat yield, higher by 11.4 and 9.2%, respectively, compared to those for the control treatment in which the full nitrogen dose was applied. Taking into account the scale of oilseed rape production in Poland, this means savings of 52.8 thousand tonnes of mineral nitrogen per year. Therefore, introducing the researched solutions into agricultural practice would lead to measurable benefits for the natural environment.