TABLE 4.
Phytobeneficial effects of bacterial isolates on maize seedling growtha
| Treatment | Height (cm) | Stem girth (cm) | No. of leaves | Leaf area (cm2) | Shoot mass (g dry matter) | Nutrient content (ppm) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | P | K | ||||||
| Control | 23.7 (0.4) a | 0.4 (0.3) b | 7.0 (0.0) b | 225.2 (24.7) c | 1.8 (0.0) d | 1.4 (0.1) d | 0.8 (0.0) b | 2.3 (0.3) d |
| Isolate | ||||||||
| EBS8 | 29.0 (2.2) a | 1.4 (0.1) a | 8.0 (0.0) a | 242.0 (1.1) bc | 7.1 (0.6) a | 3.9 (0.0) a | 1.1 (0.0) a | 4.5 (0.5) b |
| EPR2 | 28.7 (2.1) a | 1.5 (0.0) a | 8.0 (0.3) a | 284.7 (4.6) b | 4.7 (0.1) b | 1.8 (0.1) c | 0.6 (0.1) c | 6.4 (0.2) a |
| IGBR11 | 24.6 (0.1) a | 1.1 (0.0) a | 8.0 (0.3) a | 337.4 (0.7) a | 3.5 (0.1) c | 1.8 (0.1) c | 0.4 (0.1) d | 1.7 (0.1) d |
| ADS14 | 27.8 (3.0) a | 1.8 (0.3) a | 8.0 (0.0) a | 276.5 (14.5) b | 4.0 (0.1) c | 3.5 (0.1) b | 0.4 (0.0) d | 3.6 (0.3) c |
a
Results are means (standard deviations) for five replicates. Values followed by different letters within a column indicate significant differences according to the Student-Newman-Keuls multiple-range test (α = 0.05).