Effect of Combined Application of Vermicompost and PGPRs on Growth Parameters and Nutrient Uptake of Sesame Seedling (Sesamum indicum L.)

Soil fertility management through use of organic and biological fertilizers is a crucial component of sustainable agriculture. A greenhouse experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of vermicompost and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on the growth and nutrient uptake of sesame seedlings. This experiment was conducted in factorial based on completely randomized design with four replications. Experiment factors included four levels of (zero (V0), 1 (V1), 2 (V2) and 4 percent (V3)) and five bacterial levels (without bacteria (B0), inoculation with an isolate from fluorescent pseudomonads group, having ability to dissolve inorganic phosphate (B1), Azospirillum sp. (B2) and Azotobacter sp. (B3) with ability to fix nitrogen, and a mixture of three bacteria (B4). The results showed that the main effects of vermicompost and PGPR significantly enhanced the leaf area, stem diameter and chlorophyll index in comparision to the control. Also, the combined application of vermicompost and PGPR significantly increased the shoot dry weight, plant height, number of leaves and nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, manganese, zinc and copper uptake in sesame seedling (P