Effect of Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria on Soil Available Iron and Its Uptake by Wheat

There is a available iron deficit for the plant in most of the country cultivated lands. On the other hand, some bacteria that stimulate plant growth can increase the access of the elements to the plant. In the present study, the effect of plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) on exchangeable iron in soil and some characteristics of wheat (Chamran cultivar) were investigated in a completely randomized design with factorial arrangement in greenhouse.Treatments consisted of four levels of bacteria, without inoculation (control), inoculation with Enterobacter cloacae R33, inoculation with Enterobacter cloacae sug R_1, inoculation with both E. cloacae R33 and E. cloacae sug R_1) and three levels of FeSO4 (0 %, 50 % and 100 % of iron requirement). During the experiment, characteristics such as plant height and chlorophyll index were measured. According to the results the lowest amount of pH and the highest amount of soil exchangeable iron were observed in the treatment containing consortium of bacteria and application of 50 percent of plant iron requirement. Maximum grain yield with 26 percent increment was observed in the treatment containing consortium of bacteria and application of 50 percent of plant iron requirement. Maximum grain iron concentration and its uptake were also obtained under treatment of bacteria consortium and 50 percent of plant iron requirement by 172 and 50 percent over the control.