The Recent Use of Plant-Growth-Promoting Bacteria to Promote the Growth of Agricultural Food Crops

Abstract

In the past 15–20 years, the employment of Plant-Growth-Promoting Bacteria (PGPB) to facilitate the growth of agricultural food crops has increased dramatically. These beneficial soil bacteria, whose use and demonstrations of efficacy have previously been largely limited to the laboratory, have now been shown to be effective under field conditions. In addition, the mechanisms that these bacteria utilize to facilitate plant growth are now mostly well characterized. Moreover, several companies across the globe have commercialized a number of PGPB and there is every indication that this trend will continue to grow. As a consequence of these developments, in this review article, a large number of recent reports on the successful testing of many different types of PGPB and their effects on various food crops is discussed.

Response of Soil Microorganisms to and Yield of Spelt Wheat following the Application of Bacterial Consortia and the Subsequent Effect of Cover Crops in Organic Farming

“…Spelt wheat ear yield was significantly differentiated by the application of bacterial consortia and forecrops (CCs) and their interaction (Table 5). 2 values in the column for the CC × bacterial consortia interaction followed by the same lowercase letter (a, b, and c) do not differ significantly at p ≤ 0.05. Means for the bacterial consortia in a column followed by the same capital letter (A, B, and C) do not differ significantly at p ≤ 0.05.…”

“…Statistical analysis demonstrated a significant effect of growing season conditions on CC yield (Figure 3). 2 values in years for the years × bacterial consortia interaction followed by the same lowercase letter above the bar (a, b, and c) do not differ significantly at p ≤ 0.05; means for the years followed by the same capital letter (A, B, and C) do not differ significantly at p ≤ 0.05; ± standard deviation.…”

“…The selection of which bacterial species we were going to use to form consortia in our research was partly based on studies already conducted by other researchers and partly based on our own conception. According to Reed and Glick [2], individual PGPR have several mechanisms, but not all of them are revealed simultaneously in a given environment. This is because the simultaneous functioning of too many genes imposes a metabolic burden on the bacteria, thus reducing their overall environmental fitness.…”

“…In modern agriculture, increasing attention is being paid to the use of organic grain growing technologies based on the application of bacterial formulations. Among the available crop management techniques, biofertilizers have been attracting increasing attention from researchers around the world over the past few decades [2]. Biofertilizers can be defined as a group of living microorganisms used in agriculture through seed inoculation and foliar and soil application [3].…”

“…Figure 1.The B/A ratio in the soil after harvesting spring barley was influenced by weather conditions of the growing season and the application of bacterial consortia in 2019-2021 1. 1-Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, and Pseudomonas fluorescens; 2-Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Pseudomonas fluorescens, and Azotobacter chroococcum 2. values in years for the years × bacterial consortia interaction followed by the same lowercase letter above the bar (a, b, and c) do not differ significantly at p ≤ 0.05; means for the years with the same capital letter (A, B) do not differ significantly at p ≤ 0.05; ± standard deviation.…”