Livestock's Urine-Based Plant Microbial Fuel Cells Improve Plant Growth and Power Generation

Plant microbial fuel cells (P-MFCs) are sustainable and eco-friendly technologies, which use plant root exudates to directly nourish the electrochemically active bacteria (EABs) to generate sustainable electricity. However, their use in evaluating plant growth has been insufficiently studied. In this study, interconnection between plant growth and the production of bioelectricity was evaluated by using P-MFCs inoculated with 642.865 mL approximately equal to 643 mL of livestock's urine such as cow urine, goat urine, and sheep urine. The greatest mean stem diameter of 0.52 +/- 0.01 cm was found in P-MFC-3 inoculated with goat urine, while the P-MFC-2 treated with cow urine reached a higher average number of roots with a value of 86 +/- 2.50 (95% improvement) (p < 0.05). Besides, P-MFC-4 presented greater height of 50.08 +/- 0.67 cm. For polarization curve experiment a higher maximum power density of 132 +/- 11.6 mW m(-2) (931 mA m(-2)) was reached with cow urine; in turn, with regard to the long-term operation, the same reactor indicated a higher maximum average power density of 43.68 +/- 3.05 mW m(-2). The study's findings indicated that Stevia P-MFC inoculated with urine was a good option to increase the biomass amount for the agricultural plants along with power generation. Further, this study opens the way for more investigation of evaluating the impact of P-MFC on plant growth.

Automated summary

This study evaluates the impact of plant microbial fuel cells (P-MFCs) on plant growth and finds that using different types of livestock urine can increase the number of roots, stem diameter, and height of the plants.