Microbial inoculation of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) enhances rhizosphere effects on soil biological quality

摘要

Intensive agricultural practices and soil quality concerns have brought increased emphasis on biological strategies of crop production. Co-inoculation of Rhizobium spp. and Bacillus megaterium improved the root biomass of chickpea at flowering (+51%) and grain yield (+12.5%) in a Vertisol. At vegetative stage, the rhizosphere and microbial inoculation effects and their combined effect increased the soil dehydrogenase activity by 1.2x, 1.3x and 1.6x, the associative nitrogen fixers by 13.5x, 64.8x and 875x and acid phosphatase by 6.7x, 4.1x, 27.3x, respectively. The rhizosphere to soil ratios of associative nitrogen fixers and acid phosphatase were 32.8 and 2.1-fold higher in inoculated soils at vegetative stage. At flowering, associative nitrogen fixers and acid phosphatase activity increased significantly by 7.2x and 1.5x due to inoculation. Results reflect the improvement of soil biological condition due to microbial inoculation, and the usefulness of associative nitrogen fixers and acid phosphatase activity as indicators of soil microbial health.