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Bauhinia is a widely planted urban tree plant in tropical cities, which are frequently dwelling in a habitat exposed to inevitable streetlamp lighting. It is of practical meaning to figure out the lighting spectra that benefit nutrient utilization in corporation with a proper exponential fertilization regime. In this study, Bauhinia brachycarpa and B. variegata seedlings were cultured with exponential fertilization at the rate of 80 mg nitrogen (N) plant-1 (N-phosphorus-potassium, 10-7-9) with an unfertilized control, and both were exposed to light-emitting diode spectra of R1BG5 (13.9% red, 77.0% green, 9.2% blue), R2BG3 (26.2% red, 70.2% green, 3.5% blue), and R3BG1 (42.3% red, 57.3% green, 0.4% blue). The R3BG1 spectrum resulted in smaller growing size and dry mass but higher nutrient concentration and root water content compared to the other two spectra. Exponential fertilization increased fresh mass for two Bauhinia species but only increased dry mass in B. brachycarpa. Compared to B. variegata, B. brachycarpa was verified to have a higher capacity to accommodate exogeneous nutrient input through exponential fertilization. The R3BG1 spectrum was recommended for the illumination in streetlamps for Bauhinia because this spectrum can promote nutrient uptake without too fast rate of growth relative to other spectra with lower red-light proportions.

Demand for products made from the dry mass of Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng) is growing, but harvest is limited by fungal disease infection when ginseng is replanted in the same field. Rotated cropping with maize can cope with the replant limit, but it may take decades. We aimed to amend post-maize-cropping farmland soils for cultivating Asian ginseng, using effective microorganisms EMs and fulvic acid (FA) additives and detecting and comparing their effects on soil microbial diversity and physiochemical properties. Amendments promoted seedling survival and depressed disease-infection. Both EMs and FA increased the relative abundances of Pseudomonas, Flavobacterium, Duganella, and Massilia spp., but, decreased the relative abundances of Fusarium and Sistotrema. In addition, soil nutrient availability and properties that benefitted nutrient availabilities were promoted. In conclusion, amendments with EMs and FA improved the fertility of farmland soils, and the quality of Asian ginseng, and revealed the relationship between soil microbial diversity and physiochemical properties.

In order to evaluate the effect of growing media with peat and spent mushroom residue (SMR) on medicinal plants, we cultured Gossypium herbaceum and Talinum paniculatum seedlings in the substrates with SMR in proportions of 0% (control), 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%. Results showed that G. herbaceum seedlings can survive in all treatments, but T. paniculatum seedlings died out in 75% and 100% SMR substrates where higher electrical conductance was found (2.3-2.7 dS m-1). Both growth and biomass mostly declined with the increase of SMR proportion in the growing media for the two species except for root biomass in T. paniculatum seedlings between the control and the 25% SMR treatment. Shoot nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations and contents tended to be higher in low- and high-SMR-proportional substrates, respectively. N and P statuses were both diagnosed to be excessive than needed for the two species. Overall, it was not recommended to culture G. herbaceum seedlings in the substrates with SMR; instead T. paniculatum seedlings can be cultured in the growing media with SMR in volumetric proportion of 25%.