Objective. Study the effect of chickpea seed inoculation with a suspension of Mesorhizobiumciceri ND-64 on crop yields, calculate the economic and bioenergy efficiency of seed bacterization.Methods. Microbiological, field experiment, economic, statistical. Results. It was shown that presowing inoculation of chickpea seeds with M. ciceri ND-64 during cultivation of this culture inPolissia of Ukraine conditions contributed to the increased efficiency of legume-rhizobial symbiosis. During three years of research there was an increase in structural parameters: the numberof beans per plant — by 15–42 %, seeds from the plant — by 12–32 %, weight of seeds from theplant — by 12–37 %, weight of 1000 seeds — by 6–9 % relative to positive (with inoculation usingreference strain of M. ciceri H-12) and absolute (without inoculation) controls, respectively. Theyield of Pamiat variety chickpeas increased by 12.8–26.5 %. The amount of profit when bacterialsuspension of M. ciceri ND-64 was applied for seed bacterization per 1 ha of sown area was UAH10,795 and the level of profitability was 106.1 %. The payback of each hryvnia of additional costswith additional income was UAH 19.43 after inoculation with M. ciceri H-12 and UAH 30.88 after M. ciceri ND-64. With anthropogenic energy consumption of 10,479 MJ in the variant with bacterization using M. ciceri ND-64 per 1 ha of sown area, the energy content of the obtained grain was26,181 MJ, respectively, the energy efficiency coefficient was 2.50. The additional energy costs associated with the use of M. ciceri ND-64 were 16.56 times paid back by the energy of the additionalcrop. Conclusion. The use of M. ciceri ND-64 for pre-sowing inoculation of chickpea seeds ofPamiat variety provided an increase in the number of seeds from the plant by 42 %, weight of seedsfrom the plant by 32 %, weight of 1000 seeds by 9 % and increase crop yields by 26.5 % relative tocontrol when the crop was cultivated in Polissia area during three years of research. All parameters of economic and energy efficiency of pre-sowing bacterization with M. ciceri ND-64 are moreeffective in comparison with inoculation using M. ciceri H-12.

Objective. Study the competitiveness, complementarity and symbiotic activity of a new strain of chickpea nodule bacteria Mesorhizobium ciceri ND-64, study the influence of seed inoculation on the productivity and yield of chickpea varieties of Ukrainian selection under their cultivation in different soil and climatic zones of Ukraine. Methods. Serological, gas chromatography, field experiment and statistical. Results. The use of a new strain of M. ciceri ND-64 for pre-sowing bacterization of chickpea seeds of varieties Skarb, Admiral, Odysei, Budzhak, Triumf and Pamiat upon growing in field experiments in the Steppe zone against the background of the local population of nodule bacteria contributes to a significant increase in nitrogen-fixing nodules by 5 % to 67 %, an increase in the mass of nodules by 10 % to 67 % and nitrogenase activity 26 % to 150 % compared with the positive control (inoculation with the reference strain of M. ciceri H-12). The use of M. ciceri ND- 64 for pre-sowing bacterization of chickpea seeds under cultivation in the Steppe zone of Ukraine also had a positive effect on increasing the yield of chickpea — by 4 % to 18 % compared to the positive control. Inoculation with a new strain of chickpea seeds of varieties Skarb, Triumf and Pamiat contributed to the formation of higher number of nodules (by 57 % to 89 %), increaseed mass of nodules (2.2–2.9 times) and their nitrogenase activity (2–4 times) compared with the positive control upon cultivation in the Polissia zone on the fields where there is no population of chickpea rhizobia. Under these conditions, an increase in structural parameters of yield, the highest gain in chickpea yield, increase in photosynthetic activity and protein content in grain upon inoculation with M. ciceri ND-64 was shown. Obtaining a specific antisera by immunization of rabbits allowed to detect serological relatedness of M. ciceri ND-64, M. ciceri H-101, Mesorhizobium sp. ND-601 and M. ciceri ND-64, isolated from chickpea nodules of Skarb and Pamiat varieties. The competitiveness of M. ciceri ND-64 was determined using the immunological method in the field experiment. It was found that 100 % of nodules have been formed by the representatives of M. ciceri ND-64 in the variant where this serological group was applied for inoculation in the variant with inoculation of the strain M. ciceri ND-64 100 % of the nodules were formed by representatives of this serogroup. Conclusion. M. ciceri ND-64 strain is an effective microsymbiont of chickpea plants, due to its virulence, competitiveness, nitrogen-fixing properties. According to the results of field experiments, it was shown that the new strain, complementary to all studied varieties differing in seed size and shape, type of bush and average height, forms an effective symbiosis for growing chickpea plants both against the active local population of rhizobia and upon the absence of M. cicerі population in the soil. Symbiotic parameters upon seed treatment with suspension of M. ciceri ND-64 exceed these values in the variants with inoculation using the reference strain of M. ciceri H-12 and strains isolated from the nodules of each study variety. Therefore, M. ciceri ND-64 can be used as a bioagent of a microbial preparation for inoculation of chickpea of different varieties in order to form an effective bean-rhizobial symbiosis, increase the productivity of this culture and improve seed quality.

The analytical selection of rhizobial bacteria of chickpea was carried out in order to create aneffective legume-rhizobial symbiosis. A new strain of rhizobia has been isolated from the nodules ofchickpea of Skarb variety, which, according to its cultural and physiological characteristics, isclassified as Mesorhizobium.The influence of pre-sowing bacterization of seeds by Mesorhizobium sp. 1 strain on thestructural parameters of yield was studied. It has been shown that the bacterization of chickpea seedswith the new strain provides an increase in the productivity of culture by 47 % under cultivation onthe soil with the active local population of rhizobia

The strain of Rhizobium galegae К- 3 - active symbiote of Galega orientalis has been received by means of selection. Positive influence of this strain on formation and functioning of symbiosis during the first and second years of cultivation of Galega orientalis plants is shown. R. galegae К- 3 promotes to formation of generous amount of indeterminate nodules on the roots, increase of activity of symbiotic nitrogen fixation and increase in the yield of Galega orientalis.