Soil science
S.S. Hosseini; F. Rejali; P. Keshavarz
Abstract
Introduction
Water scarcity is a major challenge in Iran, with annual rainfall averaging 235 to 260 mm, only a third of the global average. Wheat, a staple crop in Iran, faces severe yield reduction under drought conditions. Utilizing biofertilizers like plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria ...
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Introduction
Water scarcity is a major challenge in Iran, with annual rainfall averaging 235 to 260 mm, only a third of the global average. Wheat, a staple crop in Iran, faces severe yield reduction under drought conditions. Utilizing biofertilizers like plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi could help enhance water use efficiency (WUE) and yield in such environments. However, the effectiveness of biofertilizers varies based on several factors, including the type of biofertilizer (bacterial or fungal), the strain or species used, and the formulation (solid or liquid). Despite the established benefits of both PGPR and AM fungi in enhancing drought tolerance and WUE, there is a lack of comparative studies that examine the specific performance of bacterial versus fungal biofertilizers and their formulations under varying levels of water stress. Thus, the objectives of this study are as follows: 1) to identify the most suitable type of biofertilizer (bacterial or fungal) for improving wheat yield and WUE under drought conditions in Mashhad's climatic conditions; 2) to determine the effect of ACC deaminase enzyme on the efficiency of PGPR in enhancing wheat yield and WUE; 3) to compare the performance of AM fungal biofertilizers in two formulations (powder and liquid) and between single-species and multi-species inoculants.
Material and Methods
The experiment was conducted as a split-plot design with three replicates, where irrigation levels constituted the main plots, and biofertilizer treatments formed the subplots. The irrigation treatments included full irrigation (100% of wheat’s water requirement), mild drought stress (85%), and severe drought stress (65%). The biofertilizer treatments were: no biofertilizer (F1), serving as a control; Pseudomonas fluorescens producing ACC-deaminase (F2); P. fluorescens without ACC-deaminase (F3); AM fungi (Rhizophagus irregularis) in liquid form (F4); and (5) AM fungi (R. irregularis, Funneliformis mosseae, and Claroideoglomus etunicatum) in powdered form (F5).
Results and Discussion
Both irrigation levels and biofertilizer types had significant impacts on root colonization, yield, and WUE. Reducing irrigation from 100% to 85% and 65% of crop water requirements significantly reduced root colonization across all treatments. Among the bacterial treatments, only P. fluorescens producing ACC-deaminase (F2) showed a significant positive effect under severe drought (65% irrigation). This treatment increased grain yield by 9%, biological yield by 7%, and WUE by 6.8% compared to the control (F1). The presence of ACC-deaminase likely contributed to mitigating the effects of drought-induced ethylene, promoting better root growth and nutrient uptake under water stress. In contrast, P. fluorescens without ACC-deaminase (F3) did not significantly improve yield or WUE, emphasizing the importance of ACC-deaminase in promoting drought tolerance. Fungal biofertilizers outperformed bacterial treatments in grain and biological yield, as well as WUE. Under severe drought, powdered AM fungi (F5) increased grain yield by 26% and biological yield by 21% compared to the control, and WUE based on grain yield improved by 26%. This superior performance of AM fungi, particularly in powdered form, can be attributed to their ability to enhance nutrient and water uptake under drought conditions. These findings corroborate earlier studies that demonstrated AM fungi's ability to improve crop yield and WUE under drought stress by enhancing water uptake, nutrient availability, and improving the plant's physiological responses, such as maintaining cell membrane stability and increasing antioxidant activity. The powdered formulation of AM fungi (F5) showed greater effectiveness than the liquid form (F4). The higher colonization rates and performance in yield improvement may be due to the inclusion of multiple fungal species in the powdered form. The performance differences between the liquid and powdered AM fungi formulations may also be influenced by the physical properties of the biofertilizer since powdered inoculants are most effective when applied to the seeds of grasses like wheat and barley, as the structure of these seeds allows for better adhesion of the powder.
Conclusion
In conclusion, among the bacterial biofertilizers, only P. fluorescens producing ACC-deaminase significantly enhanced plant performance under severe drought, underscoring the importance of ACC-deaminase in alleviating drought stress. However, fungal biofertilizers, especially in powdered form, were more effective overall in improving yield, biological productivity, and WUE under varying levels of water stress. This research confirms that the application of AM fungi can serve as an effective strategy for improving wheat yield and increasing WUE in the climatic conditions of Mashhad. Overall, the observed differences in the effectiveness of these biofertilizers suggest that the appropriate selection of both type and formulation of biofertilizers can significantly contribute to managing water stress and improving crop production.
F. rejali; A. Esmaelzad; K. Saghafi; V. hemati
Abstract
Introduction: Biofertilizers have been identified as alternative to chemical fertilizers to increase soil fertility and crop production in sustainable farming systems. One of the most useful kind of biofertilizers include plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). Azospirillum is an associative rhizobacteria ...
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Introduction: Biofertilizers have been identified as alternative to chemical fertilizers to increase soil fertility and crop production in sustainable farming systems. One of the most useful kind of biofertilizers include plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). Azospirillum is an associative rhizobacteria which can be very useful for plants such as wheat. It can help plant by fixing nitrogen through biological way, causing root development, plant strength improvement in primary phases, causing germination percent increment, improving plant tolerance in stress situations (drought, salinity, soil compaction and pathogens), secreting plant promoting hormones like cytokinin, Oxin and finally yield increment will be observable. Modern agriculture largely relies on the extensive application of agrochemicals, including inorganic fertilizers and pesticides. Although pesticides are important, their effects on nontarget organisms are of great concern because this poses a risk to the entire ecological system. The fungicides may also adversely affect the soil microflora, especially the types of microorganisms that can applied to seeds as bacterial inoculants. Considering useful effects of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria especially Azospirillum on Wheat, this study was done in order to survey interaction effects between fungicide and available biofertilizers in Iran market.
Materials and Methods: Effect of carboxin tiram in 2 levels (applied, non-applied) as fungicide, on efficacy of wheat plant (Chamran Cultivar) and final crop yields under association conditions with 5 Azospirillum species (A.brasilense, A.lipoferum, A.halopraeferense, A.irakense, A.sp) using powdery and liquid formulation were studied in a greenhouse test for four months in Soil and Water Research Institute.At first some properties of used soil, including soil texture, pH, EC,organic carbon and available soil K, P, Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu were measured by laboratory methods.Nutrient Broth medium were used for bacterial inoculum production with 108 bacterial cound per ml in final suspention. Using factorial experiment in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD), 2 bacterial inoculants factors (5 inoculation level and a non-inoculation level), CarboxinThiram fungicide levels (applied, non-applied) and two inoculants formulations (liquid and powdery) with four replicates per treatment and a total of 96 experimental units (pots), the most effective contribution of different species of Azospirillum bacteria with Chamran wheat varieties were evaluated in the presence of the fungicide. Studied Parameters included number of tillers, node interface, flag length, number of grains per spike, grain weight per spike, shoots wet weight, 1000 grain weight and shoot dry weight of wheat plant. Data were analyzed with SASS and Excel softwares. The comparison was done by Tukey test.
Results and Discussion: Regarding ANOVA table (table 2), liquid and powdery formulations of Azospirillum with different species had significant effect on 8 of 11 studied traits including number of tillers, plant hight, spike length, node interface, flag length, number of spikes per square meter , grain weight in spike, shoot wet weight, shoot dry weight. Fungicide had effect on 2 traits such as number of grain per spike and grain weight spike independently. Bacteria and fingicide interaction had significant effect on number of tillers, node interface, flag length, number of grain per spike, shoot dry weight (p< 0.01) and shoot wet weight (p< 0.05).
Numeric comparsion between similar treatments in presence and absence of fungicide, it can be concluded that although fungicide presence had no significant positive effectson studied traits, it did not have any negative effects eigther.Even it could increase traits quantity by affecting on bacteria. Also, regarding to Table 5, comparing fungicide effect on bacteria with studied trait in two formulations, it can be concluded that fungicide presence with bacteria was effective on quantity of some trait in powdery formulation and some in liquid formulation.These findinds may be the result of fungicide effects in controlling soil born pathogens in compatable treatments with used bacterial inoculums.
Conclusions: As final result, using A.lipoferum with both formulations and A.halopraeferense with powdery formulation, because of high compatibility with carboxin thiram fungicide can be advised in case of fungicide application. This advice can have good effects on functional traits such as number of tillers, grain weight in spike and shoot dry weight.To consider the effects of environmental conditions on the final results we propose to do this experiment in field scale in some Iranian provinces with different climatic conditions.The use of different concentrations of carboxin tiram and also different kinds of PGPR and other fungicides must be consider in future experiments.
M. Mohammadi; Mohammad Jafar Malakouti; K. Khavazi; F. Rejali; Mohammad Hossein Davoodi
Abstract
Introduction: Use of unbalanced chemical fertilizers especially P, having low absorption efficiency and low solubility compounds with soil components, has resulted in the production and use of bio-fertilizers (17, 23 and 29). Bio-fertilizer is a preservative material consisting of one or several specific ...
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Introduction: Use of unbalanced chemical fertilizers especially P, having low absorption efficiency and low solubility compounds with soil components, has resulted in the production and use of bio-fertilizers (17, 23 and 29). Bio-fertilizer is a preservative material consisting of one or several specific beneficial micro-organisms or their metabolic products used to supply plant nutrients and development of root systems (29). There are a lot of micro-organisms in soil capabling help to plant nutrition and uptake of nutrient elements in different ways that can be mentioned by the dual symbiotic relation between micro-organism and plant. Mycorrhizal fungus and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) such as Azotobacter and Pseudomonas are able to increase uptake of nutrient elements particularly when they are applied with others and hence they increase the yield of different crops (12, 14; 24 and 30). P solubilizing fungus and bacteria facilitate uptake of slowly diffusing nutrient ions such as P, Zn and Cu and increase their availabilities usually by increasing volume of soil exploited by plants, spreading external mycelium, secreting organic acids, production of dehydrogenase and phosphates enzymes and reducing rhizosphere acidity (9, 15, 19, 23 and 26). The main beneficial use of micro-organism is increasing of host plant growth. It can be done with increase of nutrient elements uptake. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of P and Zn bio-fertilizers on yield, yield components and shoot nutrient elements in two cultivars of bean for the first time in the Chaharmahal-va- Bakhtiari province.
Material and Methods: This field experiment was carried out as a factorial in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The treatments of this research consisted of two cultivars of Chiti bean (Talash and Sadri), four levels of P (P0: Control, P1: Chemical fertilizer on the basis of soil test, P2: 50 percent of recommended P + bio-fertilizer (P), and P3: bio-fertilizer (P)), three levels of Zn (Zn0: Control, Zn1: 50 kg ha-1 Zinc sulphate, and Zn3: bio-fertilizer (Zn)). Bio-fertilizer (P) treatment consisted of mycorrhizal and five strains of Azotobacter chroococcum. Bio-fertilizer (Zn) treatment consisted of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain MPFM and Pseudomonas fluorescent strain 187. Grain inoculation (5%) was done in shadow and after drying, inoculated grains were immediately cultivated. Two g of mycorrhizal fungus was applied at the base of the grain hole just prior to sowing. Chemical fertilizers were applied from TSP at a rate of 100 and 50 kg ha-1 in P1 and P2 respectively, 50 kg ha-1 ZnSO4.7H2O in Zn1 and 50 kg ha-1 urea as a starter before planting. The size of each plot was 3 × 4 meters. Statistical analysis was done with SAS) statistical software. Duncan’s multiple range test was used to separate means.
Results and Discussion: The results revealed that there were significant differences between the two cultivars on seed yield, number of seeds per pod, 100 seed weight and concentrations of nitrogen (N), potassium (K), and Zn, but there was no significant difference between the other parameters. P treatment showed a significant effect on the examined parameters except the number of seeds per pod. The highest content of yield (3446 kg ha-1) was observed in P2 treatment (18.5% seed yield increase). Zinc treatment also had a significant effect on the parameters being studied except the number of seed per pod and manganese (Mn) concentration. The maximum seed yield (3339 kg ha-1) was monitored in Zn1 and Zn2 treatments. The effect of interactions between P and Zn was significant on the number of pods per shrub, 100 seed weight and K concentration, but it was not significant on the other parameters. However the highest content of seed yield (3520 kg ha-1) was obtained from P2Zn1 (32.5% seed yield increase) treatment. Our results were similar to findings of other researchers (1, 3, 12, 15, 17, 26 and 30). They reported that dual inoculation increases plant productivity. In this study, phosphate and Zn bio-fertilizers caused an increase in yield, yield component and shoot nutrient by increasing nutrient uptake, photosynthesis, growth hormones and creating favorable growth conditions. Also results showed that the consume of P fertilizers were decreased (50 percent) with proper integration of chemical and bio-fertilizers. These results correspond with the results of other researchers (17, 22, 23, 24 and 27).
Conclusion: In this research proper integration of bio- and chemical fertilizers was shown to increase yield and yield components with increasing and improving P and other nutrients’ uptake in both bean cultivars. The result also indicated that combining bio and chemical phosphate fertilizers increased the efficiency of phosphate fertilizers by 50 percent. Sadri cultivar is a suitable cultivar for Chaharmahal-va- Bakhtiari province and regions with a similar climate.
Keywords: Phosphorus, Zinc, Mycorrhizal fungi, Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), Insoluble phosphorus and zinc solubilizers
.A Sadat; Gh. Savaghebi; F. Rejali; M. Farahbakhsh; K. Khavazi; M. Shirmardi
Abstract
Abstract
The objective of this study was to assess the effects of few arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria on the growth and yield indices of two wheat varieties in a saline soil (EC=10/1 dSm-1). A factorial experiment with completely randomized design with four replications ...
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Abstract
The objective of this study was to assess the effects of few arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria on the growth and yield indices of two wheat varieties in a saline soil (EC=10/1 dSm-1). A factorial experiment with completely randomized design with four replications was conducted to investigate the effects of three levels of fungal inoculation (non inoculation , inoculation with Glomus etunicatum and with Glomus intradices) and four levels of bacterial inoculation (non inoculation, inoculation with P. fluorescens strains 4 , 9, 12) on two wheat varieties (Sistan and Chamran) as tolerant and semi-tolerant to salinity, respectively. Our results showed that the growth and yield indices of two varieties were significantly (P
