Table 2.

Seed priming with pearl millet panicle associated Bacillus strains PBs 12 and PBl 36 to test their plant growth promotion activity

Isolate name	Shoot length	Root length	Germination percentage (%)	Seedling vigour index*
Bacillus subtilis PBs 12	6.87b	5.62b	95	1186.55
Bacillus licheniformis PBl 36	7.38a	6.42a	96	1324.80
Mock	5.01c	5.56b	95	1004.15
CD (p = 0.05%)	0.49	0.22	-	-

Data sharing the same letter designation in each column, indicate no significant difference between them at a significance level of p = 0.05

CD (Critical Difference): Smallest difference between treatments means likely to indicate true change

24 h old bacterial cultures of PBs12 and PBl 36 used to prepare 1 OD (1 × 10⁸ cfu/ml) cell suspension. Pearl millet cv. 7042S seeds (n = 100) were soaked overnight in cell suspensions and incubated for 7 days at 27^o C temperature and 98% relative humidity. Data recoded and interpreted 7 days after incubation

Seedling vigour index was calculated using the formula:

$\mathrm{Seedling}\mathrm{vigour}\mathrm{index}\ast =[(\mathrm{Seedling}\mathrm{length})\ast (\mathrm{Germination}\mathrm{percentage})]$