INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT OF PGPR ON YIELD AND SOME YIELD COMPONENTS IN WINTER WHEAT

Abstract

The growth of plants promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) that live actively in plant roots and rhizosphere and support plant growth has gained widespread importance in agriculture. This study was carried out to obtain and identify PGPR isolates from wheat soil and determine their ability and capacity on plant growth and yield. So, PGPR isolates were obtained from soil, and they were identified as Bacillus sp. (B. simplex and B. pumilus) by biochemical tests and MALDI-TOF MS. After the wheat seeds (Flamura-85) were treated PGPR, the field experiment was conducted with inoculated and non-inoculated seeds at the area of the Field Crops Department, Tekirdag Namık Kemal University in 2016-2018. The experiment was arranged in a split-plot design with three replicates for each treatment. In the experiment, some parameters such as plant height (PH), spike length (SL), number of grain per spike (NGPS), grain weight per spike (GWPS), and grain yield (GY) were evaluated and compared between treatments. The study has shown that PGPR treatments support plant growth and significantly increase yield between 9.6% and 29.29%. Especially, W3 and W4 strains (B. simplex) were showed a significant effect on grain yield. According to the results, we can mention that using PGPR promotes wheat growth and lead to increasing yield in the wheat. The use of PGPR can give promising results for sustainable and eco-friendly agricultural practices.