Effect of Phosphate Solubilizating Bacteria and Different Levels of Mineral Phosphorous on the Growth and Seed Yield of Soybean Cultivars

In order to investigate the effects of strains of Pseudomonas bacteria and levels of mineral phosphorous on the growth and seed yield of the soybean cultivars a study was conducted as split split plot format using the randomized complete block design with four replications. Two soybean cultivars such as Sari and Telar, three levels of phosphorous and four levels of inoculation with phosphate solubilizing bacteria were considered as sun and sub sub plots, respectively. Results showed that seed yield of the Telar cultivar (177.14 g m-2) was significantly higher than Sari cultivar (143.87 g m-2). The highest seed yield under the main influences of phosphorous (186.2 g m-2) belonged to the treatment of applying 50 kg h-1 of phosphorous and seed yield declined at 100 kg h-1 of phosphorous. It was also found that when seeds were inoculated with P. putida and P. fluorescens seed yield increased, compared to the control (123.5 g m-2), seed yield raised significantly (160 and 168.2 g m-2, respectively). By simultaneously inoculated with both the bacterial species maximum seed yield (190.3 g m-2) obtained which was accompanied by the maximum number of pods on the main stem (40.87), the highest number of pods per plant (99.67), and the largest 100–seed weight (20.61 g). Under the triple interaction effects of cultivar, phosphorous application, and bacterial inoculation, the maximum seed yield (236.6 g m-2) was obtained when seeds of the cultivar Telar were inoculated with P. putida and 50 kg h-1 of phosphorous were applied to the soil.