Abstract
Background and aims
Bioinoculants are commonly used for enhancing crop productivity but little information is available on their effect on key microbial communities such as those involved in the cycling of nitrogen, a major plant nutrient. Here we developed a formulation combining different bioinoculants (Bacillus megaterium, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Trichoderma harzianum) and examined their effects on both Cajanus cajan growth and N-cycling microorganisms.
Methods
Seven bioinoculant combinations were evaluated in pots under field conditions, and their effects on plant growth were measured using various biometric parameters. The abundances of the total bacterial and crenarchaeal communities along with those involved in N-cycling were monitored by qPCR at vegetative, pre-flowering, flowering and maturity stages of the crop.
Results
A significant increase in growth of C. cajan was observed when treated with mixture of three bioinoculants with dry biomass and grain yield increase by 330 % and 238 %, respectively. The combination of three bioinoculants also increased the abundance of nitrogen fixers and denitrifiers towards the flowering and maturity stages.
Conclusions
The consortium of three bioinoculants increased plant growth and grain yield of C. cajan. These bioinoculants also had a positive effect on the abundance of several N-cycling microbial communities stressing the importance of understanding non-target effects of bioinoculants together with their impact on plant growth.
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Acknowledgments
RG wishes to acknowledge the French Government for supporting her stay in INRA, France, for two months. The authors would like to express their gratitude to Prof. R. C. Dubey, Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar, India for kindly providing the isolate Pseudomonas fluorescens LPK2 and to Dr. Suseelendra Desai, Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Hyderabad, India for measuring the soil properties. Dr M. V. R. K. Sarma’s help with statistical analysis is acknowledged. The comments and suggestions of two anonymous reviewers helped enhance the manuscript considerably.
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Gupta, R., Bru, D., Bisaria, V.S. et al. Responses of Cajanus cajan and rhizospheric N-cycling communities to bioinoculants. Plant Soil 358, 143–154 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-012-1293-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-012-1293-5