Figure 2.

Nitrogen concentration (mg kg⁻¹) in shoots (a) and roots (b) of maize plants grown under different water regimes (80, 60, and 40% of WHC) and inoculated with different bacterial treatments: control (non-inoculated soil – no bacteria), B1 S1 (soil inoculated with C. necator 1C2 – S1), B2 S1 (soil inoculated with P. fluorescens S3X – S1), MIX S1 (soil inoculated with a mixture of C. necator 1C2 and P. fluorescens S3X – S1; B1 S2 (soil inoculated with C. necator 1C2 – S2), B2 S2 (soil inoculated with P. fluorescens S3X – S2), MIX S2 (soil inoculated with a mixture of C. necator 1C2 and P. fluorescens S3X – S2). Values are means ± standard deviation (n = 4). A two-way ANOVA was performed to determine the influence of bacterial treatments and of the water regimes on nitrogen concentration in roots and shoots (W: water regimes; B: bacterial treatments; W x B: water regimes x bacterial treatments) and as NS: Non significant at the level P > 0.05; ^∗ significant at the level P < 0.05; ^∗∗ significant at the level P < 0.01; ^∗∗∗ significant at the level P < 0.001, respectively. A one-way ANOVA was performed to determine the influence of bacterial treatments on nitrogen concentration in roots and shoots for each water regime. Means for the same water regime showing different letters are significantly different from each other (P < 0.05) according to Duncan test. For shoots, the F values are ^∗∗∗F = 7.843, ^∗∗∗F = 20.828, and ^∗∗F = 4.751 for 80, 60, and 40% of WHC, respectively. For roots, the F values are ^∗∗∗F = 9.241, ^∗∗∗F = 19.407, and ^∗∗∗F = 7.028 for 80, 60, and 40% of WHC, respectively.