Impacts of Microbial Inoculants on the Growth and Yield of Maize Plant

Plant growth promoting potentials of Pseudomonas kilonensis F113 and Pseudomonas protegens CHA0 was investigated against five maize genotypes (viz. AFLATOXIN SYN 4W, TZB-SR, AFLATOXIN R SYN 2Y, AFLATOXIN SYN 3W and AFLATOXIN SYN-2Y) grown in two distinct soil types under a pot experiments. In addition, the same evaluation of plant beneficial effects was tested under a field experiment in one of the soils. In the pot experiment, both species (Pseudomonas kilonensis and Pseudomonas protegens) significantly stimulated the growth of maize shoot length, plant girth, and leaf length such as root length and root weight over their untreated controls. The effect on the growth parameters of genotypes AFLATOXIN SYN 4W, TZB-SR, AFLATOXIN R SYN 2Y and AFLATOXIN SYN 3W are not significantly different from one another but AFLATOXIN SYN-2Y showed a significantly lower increase in the measured parameters. No significant difference was observed according to soil types. AFLATOXIN SYN 4W showed a significantly higher root weight while AFLATOXIN R SYN 2Y showed a significantly higher root length compared to the other maize genotypes. More also, Pseudomonas significantly increased maize growth and yield under field experiment. AFLATOXIN R SYN 2Y and AFLATOXIN SYN 4W showed a significantly higher yield than the other maize genotypes studied. We concluded that Pseudomonas kilogenensis F113 and Pseudomonas protegens CHA0 are potential biofertilizers.