the effects of co-inoculation of azospirillum and pseudomonas rhizobacteria on nutrient uptake of maize (zea mays l.)

plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (pgpr) has been identified as an alternative to chemical fertilizer to increase soil fertility and crop production in sustainable agriculture. the objective of this study was to investigate the effects of single and co-inoculation of azospirillum and pseudomonas strains on plant growth and nutrient uptake of maize as a factorial experiment. treatments included control, azospirillum lipoferum dsm 1691, a.brasilense dsm 1690, pseudomonas putida strain r-168, p.fluorescens strain r-93, p.fluorescens dsm 50090 and p.putida dsm291. bacterial treatment significantly increased shoot, ear and seed dry weight, 100 seed weight and number of seeds per ear. plants nutrient uptake of n, p, k, fe and cu were also significantly influenced by application of pgpr(s). also, the experimental results show that inoculation consortia apparently work better when different bacteria were combined with each other.