Abstract
Wheat is the third largest grown crop after maize and rice worldwide. Integrated use of chemical and biofertilizers have the potential to improve crop yield and quality due to their growth-promoting attributes. Therefore, the present study planned to evaluate the effectiveness of endophytic (Paenibacillus sp. strain (ZE11), Bacillus subtilis (ZE15) and Bacillus megaterium (ZE32)) and rhizobacterial strains (Bacillus subtilis (ZR2) Bacillus subtilis (ZR3) and Bacillus megaterium strain (ZR19)), solely and in combination, to increase the productivity of wheat and microbial activity in the rhizosphere. The maximum increase in microbial biomass carbon (44%), available phosphorous (30%), ammonium–nitrogen (24%), nitrate–nitrogen (37%), iron (10%), zinc (11%) and bacterial population (31%) was recorded by co-inoculation of ZE11 + ZR3. Subsequently, co-inoculation of ZE11+ZR3 showed a maximum increase of 31%, 29%, 30%, 27%, 33%, 30%, 25%, 9%, 15%, 9%, 18% and 26% in superoxidase dismutase (SOD), peroxidase dismutase (POD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POX), grain yield, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, iron and zinc in grains, respectively, as compared to uninoculated control. The sole inoculation of ZR19 showed maximum harvest index (45.5%). The sole inoculation of endophytes and rhizobacteria has a significant effect on growth, physiology, and wheat crop yield. However, co-inoculation had a better effect and can be used to develop multi-strain biofertilizer to promote growth and yield of crops.
Highlights
ZE11 + Bacillus subtilis ZR3 showed the highest available phosphorous, which was 30% more than control
The results revealed that the change in soil biochemical attributes such as microbial biomass carbon, ammonium and nitrate nitrogen was nonsignificant by inoculation of strains Paenibacillus sp
The results of the present study revealed that the application of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria and endophytic bacteria improved soil biological and chemical properties such as microbial population in the rhizosphere, microbial biomass carbon, available P, nitrate nitrogen and ammonium nitrogen
Summary
Wheat as a significant grain crop has gained importance in gross domestic production (GDP) in Pakistan. Wheat is an important grain crop for achieving the country’s food security [1]. Being a staple food of Pakistan’s entire population, about 72% of calories and proteins are supplied through wheat in a regular diet. In Pakistan, the highest use of wheat per capita (120 kg year−1 ) was documented by the Pakistan Agriculture
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