A Malian native plant growth promoting Actinomycetes based biofertilizer improves maize growth and yield

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of Actinomycetes with Plant growoth promoting activity on the growth and yield of maize. This allowed the selection of three Actinomycetes: Actinomycetes sp. H7, O19 and AHB12 for their ability to solubilize phosphates, fix atmospheric nitrogen, and produce antimicrobial substances, enzymes, phytohormones and for their high vigour index. Five seeds, previously sanitized, inoculated and coated, were sown per pot. The best isolates selected in greenhouses were tested in station experiments. In pot, the inoculated seeds, with Actinomycete sp. H7 gave the best growth in plant size, 19.3% more compared to the uninoculated control (P ≤ 0.05). In station experiments, it was found that Actinomycete sp. H7 significantly increased the fresh and dry biomass of the aerial part with 919.7 g and 405.6 g, respectively, against 636.70 g and 297.36 g respectively for the control. The best yield of seeds was obtained with the combination O19-AHB12 with a yield of 311.5 g for 1000 seeds compared to 178.28 g for the uninoculated control. All corn seeds inoculated showed better growth than controls. These results confirm the value of the PGPRs and above all open a way for the formulation and the use of biofertilizers based on PGPRs in Mali.