effects of biofertilizer and chemical phosphorus fertilizers on yield and seed protein of two different lentil cultivars (lens culinaris l.) under different irrigation regimes

to evaluate the effect of drought stress, biofertilizer and chemical phosphorus fertilizer on yield and seed protein percentage of two lentil cultivars, an experiment was conducted in split factorial based on crbd design with 4 replications in research farm of university of tehran (karaj-iran) during 2009-10. the main factor including three irrigation levels (irrigation after 70, 90 and 130 mm evaporation from open pan class a) and sub treatments were the different kind of fertilizer (100% super phosphate triple; seed inoculation with biofertilizer; 50% super phosphate triple+inoculation with biofertilizer; no fertilizer & inoculation or check) along with two lentil varieties (namely; ill6039 & ziba, susceptible and tolerant cultivars, respectively). the biofertilizer contained pseudomonas (strains number 93 & 187) and azotobactor. the characteristics recorded were plant height, pods number per plant, seed yield, seed protein content (%) and harvest index. the results indicated that irrigation levels had significant effects on all plant traits (p?0.01). the interaction effects between irrigation and fertilizer, irrigation×variety, fertilizer×variety and the triple interactions had significant effects on all plant traits (p?0.01). amongst the triple interactions, the variety×fertilizer under irrigation after 70 mm evapotranspiration from open pan (check) produced the highest seed yield. the effect of integrated fertilizer treatment on seed yield in comparison with 100% phosphorus fertilizer at different irrigation levels was better. therefore, one can conclude from the view point of fertilizer reduction that the combination of 50% phosphorus fertilizer + inoculation with bio-fertilizer can be recommended.