Effect of Multi-Strain Bacterial Inoculation with Different Carriers on Growth and Yield of Maize under Saline Conditions

Irfan, Muhammad and Zahir, Zahir Ahmad and Asghar, Hafiz Naeem and Khan, Muhammad and Ahmad, H. T. and Ali, Qasim (2019) Effect of Multi-Strain Bacterial Inoculation with Different Carriers on Growth and Yield of Maize under Saline Conditions. International Journal of Agriculture and Biology, 22 (6). pp. 1407-1414.

Abstract

Soil salinity being a significant character of the arid and semi-arid climate, causes enormous reduction in the crop production. It does so by disturbing the hormonal and nutritional balances which are important for plant growth. Using plant growth promoting rhizobacteria to mitigate salinity stress is an emerging potential technology. By employing various mechanisms of actions, they have the ability to improve the crop production under saline conditions. However, when present in the natural environments, their survivability may reduce drastically due to various environmental stresses. But using carrier materials during inoculation can enhance bacterial survivability because carriers generally provide the bacteria with better suited micro climate, nutrition and help to withstand the stresses. This study was carried out to evaluate five different carrier materials for the improvement of maize crop growth and production. Bacterial consortium was applied along with the carriers including peat, pressmud, biogas slurry, biochar and compost to improve the crop production at salinity levels normal (1.53 dS m-1), 4 and 8 dS m-1. An un inoculated treatment as a control and a liquid inoculation application directly to the soil as a treatment were also maintained. Results revealed that with the increase in salinity, there was a significant reduction in maize plant growth and production. However, where consortium of PGPR strains (S5, S14 and S20) was applied, the growth and production of the maize plant was significantly improved as compared to control at all salinity levels. The grain yield was increased up to 12.87, 13.36 and 13.59% more compared with un-inoculated control in case of pressmud based inoculation at 1.53, 4 and 8 dS m-1, respectively. The results help to make a conclusion that pressmud was the carrier with best potential among all five carriers for significantly improving maize growth and yield.