In order to obtain promising rice growth-promoting microbial strains that can be used as substitutes for chemical fertilizers, 172 bacterial strains were isolated from rice roots grown in Korean and Russian soils. Out of them, the strains KR076, KR083, KR181 and RRj228 showed plant growth-promoting activities on maize seedlings. Bacillus megaterium KR076 and Bacillus sp. KR083 showed both nitrogen-fixing and plant growth-promoting activities, while Rhizobium sp. KR181 and Pseudomonas sp. RRj228 appeared to support only plant growth-promotion, but not N 2 fixation. Especially, RRj228 showed high growth promoting activity at low concentrations. Inoculation studies with KR083 and RRj228 revealed a high affinity to the Japonica rice variety such as Junambyeo than the Korean Tongil type variety such as Arumbyeo. Both KR083 and RRj228 strains showed rhizoplane and/or endophytic colonization in Japonica and Tongil types rice when soaked with the bacterial suspension of 1.1 × 10 5 cfu ml -1 for six and twelve hours. However, the total bacterial cell numbers were higher in the roots of Japonica variety than in the Tongil type. In inoculation trials with Daesanbyeo rice variety, the seedlings inoculated with KR181 and RRj228 at the rate of 2.0 × 10 6 cfu ml -1 showed yield increment of 35% and 33% (p < 0.01), respectively, so that they contributed to the replacement of chemical fertilizer at half doses of N, P 2 O 5 , and K 2 O in pots. In Junambyeo rice seedlings, the strain RRj228, when inoculated with a cell suspension of 1.8 × 10 6 cfu ml -1, promoted 3.4% higher yield at 70% dose than at a full dose level of N 110 kg ha -1 in field. These results suggest that the rhizobacteria KR181 and RRj228 are prospective strains for enhancing rice performance.