Influence of PGPR-enriched liquid organic fertilizers on the growth and nutrients uptake of maize under drought condition in calcareous soil

摘要

In order to study the effect of water deficit stress (WDS), plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR)-enriched and non-enriched vermicompost tea(VT) and vermiwash(V) on the growth and nutrients uptakes of maize, a greenhouse experiment was conducted. The two-factor experiment was set up in a completely randomized design with three replications. The factors included: 1) liquid organic fertilizers (LOFs) with five levels (control, VT, V, vermicompost tea enriched with bacterium (VTB) and vermiwash enriched with bacterium (VB)) and 2) WDS with three levels (Field Capacity (FC), 80% FC and 60% FC(. At each irrigation interval, the volume of the used LOFs was equivalent to 60% of the volume of water required for 60% FC. At 60% FC, shoot dry matter (SDW), shoot N, P, Zn, Cu, and Fe uptake significantly decreased compared with those of FC and 80% FC, whereas shoot K uptake significantly increased. At all WDS levels, application of LOFs led to increase in SDW and shoot nutrients uptake. The highest amount of studied traits was obtained in VTB and VT treatments. Generally, VT treatments were more effective than V. Furthermore, PGPR-enriched LOFs were more effective than non-enriched ones. Application of LOFs may be considered as a practical approach for amplifying drought tolerance and reducing the risk of water scarcity in maize cultivation.