Performance of MPS Bacterial Inoculation in Two Consecutive Growth of Maize Plants

Two successive in vitro experiments were carried out to examine the effect of MPS bacterial inoculation on growth, and nitrogen and phosphorus accumulation of maize plants under greenhouse condition in the same soil. There were four treatments, uninoculated control and three phosphate solubilizing bacterial inoculations, viz., Pseudomonas striata, Burkholderia cepacia and Serratia marcescens. The inoculated plants showed the higher plant height, total dry mass, nitrogen and phosphorus accumulation when compared to uninoculated control plants in both experiments. In the combined data analysis from two experiments, the plants inoculated with P. striata and B. cepacia showed significantly higher plant height, total dry mass and P accumulation when compared to S. marcescens inoculated plant and uninoculated control plants. The P. striata and B. cepacia inoculation enhanced total dry matter accumulation by 14% and phosphorus accumulation by 25% over the uninoculated control plants. The nitrogen and phosphorus concentration of maize plants were also increased due to MPS bacterial inoculation, however, the effect was not significant.