Biostimulation is an animal management practice that helps improve reproductive parameters by modulating animal sensory systems. Chemical signals, mostly known as pheromones, have a great potential in this regard. This study was conducted to determine the influence of short-term female rabbit exposure to different conditions, mainly pheromone-mediated, on reproductive parameters of inseminated does. Groups of 60 females/each were exposed to 1) female urine, 2) male urine, 3) seminal plasma and 4) female-female interaction, just before artificial insemination, and compared to isolated females controls (female-female separated). The following reproductive parameters were analyzed for each group: receptivity (vulvar color), fertility (calving rate), prolificacy and number of born alive and dead kits ⁄ litter. Our results showed that the biostimulation methods employed in this experiment did not significantly improve any of the analyzed parameters. However, female doe exposure to urine, especially to male urine, slightly increased fertility levels when compared to the rest of the experimental conditions. Female-female interaction before artificial insemination, which is a common practice in rabbit farms, did not have any effect, which suggests its removal to avoid unnecessary animal management and time cost. On the other hand, fertility ranges were lower for animals with pale vulvar color whereas no differences were noticed among the other three colours which measure receptivity (pink, red, purple), thus suggesting that these three colours could be grouped together. Additionally, equine chorionic gonadotropin injection could be replaced with various biostimulation methods, therefore reducing or replacing current hormonal treatments, and contributing to animal welfare and to a natural image of animal production.

The aim of the research was to evaluate various fertilisation programs in increasing plant resistance to abiotic stress such as drought. It was tested whether the algal biostimulator provides the same tolerance to drought stress in highbush blueberry plants as regular fertilisers without biostimulation. The research was conducted in 2022 in a greenhouse in controlled drought conditions. Three-year-old highbush blueberry bushes (12 pieces) were used in the experiment. Highbush blueberry bushes (Vaccinium corymbosum) 'Brigitta Blue' cultivars were planted in plastic pots with a capacity of 10 dm3 containing an acidic substrate and placed in a greenhouse. Controlled lighting conditions were maintained using sodium lamps and a temperature of 25°C/20°C day/night. The substrate in pots was maintained at 80% of field water capacity by manual watering and weekly supply of nutrient solution for 5 weeks until water deficit occurred. Half of the plants were sprayed weekly with a biostimulant based on seaweed extract. Seven days after the third application of the product, half of the untreated and treated plants were subjected to water deficit stress by restricting water supply to 40% of field capacity. The tested biostimulator impacted on stimulating the activity of antioxidant enzymes but had no effect on the chlorophyll content in the leaves or the concentration of nutrients in the leaves. The effect of marine algae products on the yield quantity and high quality is related among other to bioactiv substances witch helps to prevent drought stress.

Pharmaceutically active compounds and organic pollutants are becoming a major environmental dispute possessing serious threat to the water bodies and terrestrial ecosystem. Microorganisms are capable of the self-purification process, and hence the microbial degradation is considered a lucrative method to counteract the therapeutic and recalcitrant pollutants. Pharmaceutical toxicants in aquatic system can be treated by conventional wastewater treatment, but slow sludge settling, presence of mixture of pharmaceuticals and recalcitrant compounds often pose a potential ecological risk. Some microbial strains are very effective in reducing the chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), total dissolved solids (TDS), and turbidity in pharmaceutical industrial wastewater treatment. The natural microbial community has a significant role in the ecological processes of pharmaceutical and organic compounds, including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, analgesics, blood lipid regulators and other micropollutants. Specific bacterial isolates can act as biodegraders, and fungal treatment could offer protection to the ecosystem. These microorganisms use the pollutants as their sole carbon source and transform the contaminants by co-metabolic pathways. Natural attenuation by native microorganisms, biostimulation and bioaugmentation are the processes employed to degrade the target contaminant. Microorganisms may also be genetically engineered to improve the neutralization efficiency, which would assist in the mineralization of the pollutants. Thus, employing microorganisms to detoxify the pollutants probably enhances the sustainable potential biodegradability, improves water quality standards and ensures eco-friendly alternative bioremediation strategy.

Biostimulants are materials that when applied in small amounts are capable of promoting plant growth. Nanoparticles (NPs) and nanomaterials (NMs) can be considered as biostimulants since, in specific ranges of concentration, generally in small levels, they increase the plant growth. Pristine NPs and NMS have a high density of surface charges capable of unspecific interactions with the surface charges of the cell walls and membranes of plant cells. In the same way, the functionalized NPs and NMS, and the NPs and NMs with a corona formed after the exposition to natural fluids such as water, soil solution, or the interior of organisms, presents a high density of surface charges that interact with specific charged groups in cell surfaces. The magnitude of the interaction will depend on the materials adhered to the corona, but the high-density charges located in a small volume causes an intense interaction capable of disturbing the density of surface charges of cell walls and membranes. The electrostatic disturbance can have an impact on the electrical potentials of the outer and inner surfaces, as well as on the transmembrane electrical potential, modifying the activity of the integral proteins of the membranes. The extension of the cellular response can range from biostimulation to cell death and will depend on the concentration, size, and the characteristics of the corona.

The promotion of plant growth and suppression of plant disease using beneficial microorganisms is considered an alternative to the application of chemical fertilizers or pesticides in the field. In this study, a coconut-scented antagonistic Trichoderma strain LZ42, previously isolated from Genoderma lucidum-cultivated soil, was investigated for biostimulatory and biocontrol functions in tomato seedlings. Morphological and phylogenetic analyses suggested that strain LZ42 is closely related to T. atroviride. Tomato plants showed increased aerial and root dry weights in greenhouse trials after treatment with T. atroviride LZ42 formulated in talc, indicating the biostimulatory function of this fungus. T. atroviride LZ42 effectively suppressed Fusarium wilt disease in tomato seedlings, with an 82.69% control efficiency, which is similar to that of fungicide treatment. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by T. atroviride LZ42 were found to affect the primary root growth direction and promote the root growth of tomato seedlings in root Y-tube olfactometer assays. The fungal VOCs from T. atroviride LZ42 were observed to significantly inhibit F. oxysporum in a sandwiched Petri dish assay. SPME-GC-MS analysis revealed several VOCs emitted by T. atroviride LZ42; the dominant compound was tentatively identified as 6-pentyl-2H-pyran-2-one (6-PP). 6-PP exhibited a stronger ability to influence the direction of the primary roots of tomato seedlings but not the length of the primary roots. The inhibitory effect of 6-PP on F. oxysporum was the highest among the tested pure VOCs, showing a 50% effective concentration (EC50) of 5.76 μL mL-1 headspace. In conclusion, T. atroviride LZ42, which emits VOCs with multiple functions, is a promising agent for the biostimulation of vegetable plants and integrated management of Fusarium wilt disease.