Figure 5.

Impact of field inoculations with beneficial organisms on plant performance in the PERFORMANCE-1 (A,C) and PERFORMANCE-2 (B,D) trials. Plant performance was evaluated in terms of plant density (A,B) and yield (weight of wheat seeds) (C,D) for each plot. The PERFORMANCE-1 experiment was exposed to heavy natural infestation with the firt fly (Oscinella frit) causing significant plant damage. Plant density in the PERFORMANCE-1 trial was therefore determined by visual scoring the percentage of plot area covered by wheat plants in this experiment while it was determined by counting the number of plants per linear meter in the PERFORMANCE-2 experiment, which had no measurable frit fly damage. Inoculants were Pseudomonas protegens (B1), Pseudomonas chlororaphis (B2), individually or in combination with Heterorhabditis bacteriophora (N2) and Rhizoglomus irregularis (F1*). Mixtures of the two bacteria or of the entomopathogenic nematodes (Heterorhabditis megidis, Heterorhabditis bacteriophora, and Steinernema feltiae) are indicated with NM and BM, respectively (for details see Figure S1). C, non-inoculated control; AMF-C, substrate control for AMF inoculation. Bar graphs report means (± SEM). Significant differences between treatments were calculated with one-way ANOVA (significance level P < 0.05) followed by the Tukey post-hoc test. Different letters indicate statistical significance at P < 0.05.