Table 5.

Log response ratio of the coinoculation of rhizobia and plant growth-promoting bacilli in grain legumes

Grain legume	Exp. condition	Grain yield
		n	Log R	95% C.I	p
Chickpea	Pot	2	0.161	0.007; 0.316	0.0405
	Field	34	0.159	0.096; 0.221	< 0.0001
Common bean	Pot	1	− 0.215	− 0.712; 0.282	0.3963
	Field	20	0.060	− 0.027; 0.146	0.1756
Cowpea	Pot	3	0.261	0.210; 0.313	< 0.0001
Faba bean	Field	53	0.058	0.014; 0.103	0.0105
	Pot	1	0.237	− 0.980; 1.454	0.7028
Lentil	Pot	1	− 0.150	− 0.236; − 0.036	0.0007
	Field	3	0.079	0.015; 0.144	0.0164
Mung bean	Pot	18	− 0.113	− 0.308; 0.083	0.2591
	Field	9	0.181	0.109; 0.252	< 0.0001
Pigeon pea	Pot	1	− 0.259	− 0.972; 0.454	0.4760
Soybean	Pot	3	0.119	0.064; 0.174	< 0.0001
	Field	52	− 0.005	− 0.026; 0.017	0.6643
Urad bean	Pot	2	0.033	− 0.064; 0.130	0.5082

n is the number of observations; lr is the log response ratio obtained by dividing treatment value (rhizobia + bacilli) per control (rhizobia); 95% C.I. are the lower and upper confidence intervals at p < 0.95

Interpretation: Negative values of lr indicated that coinoculation of rhizobia and bacilli decreases the variable values, and positive values of lr indicated that coinoculation promoted increases in the variable values. When the value of lr is negative and both confidence intervals are negative, the effects are significantly negative. When the value of lr is positive and both confidence intervals are positive, the effects are significantly positive

Legume species: chickpea, Cicer arietinum; common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris; cowpea, Vigna unguiculata; faba bean, Vicia faba; groundnut, Arachis hypogaea; lentil, Lens culinaris; mung bean, Vigna radiata; pea, Pisum sativum; pigeon pea, Cajanus cajan; soybean, Glycine max; urad bean, Vigna mungo

Database and the “R” script for the meta-analysis are presented in the Supplementary Material