Growth, Yield and Chemical Composition Response of some Legume Crops to Inoculation with Non-rhizobial Endophytic Bacteria from Melilotus indicus (L.) All. Nodules

Abstract

Two field experiments were carried out during two successive seasons of 2015 and 2016, to study the growth response and yield as well as chemical composition of some legume plants vis., cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. cv Kaha 1), common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv. Nebraska), peas (Pisum sativum L. cv. Master B) and fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L., cv. Giza 3) to inoculation with non-rhizobial endophytic bacteria, strains ,vis., Enterobacter sp.(strain No.1), Pseudomonas sp.(strain No.2) and Pseudomonas sp.(strain No.3) which were isolated from root nodules of Melilotus indicus (L.) All. Results showed that almost all treatments increased all vegetative growth parameters tested, vis., shoot minerals, nitrogen content and total carbohydrate and seeds minerals, total protein, total carbohydrate and total yield (seeds and green yield) of the four tested legumes. Further, the three bacterial strains used in this study showed high growth promoting activities. They gave high production of IAA and showed highly antagonistic activity against some phytopathogenic fungi. Therefore, the best results were obtained with treatments T2 for cowpea and fenugreek and T4 for common bean and pea. So, it could be recommended to use these bacterial strains as inoculants for cowpea, fenugreek, common bean and pea crop legumes.