Effect of mineral fertilization and native microbial preparations on productivity of Borlotti beans (Phaseolus vulgaris)

In order to fully realizing the potential of beneficial microorganisms in the agricultural system, there remains a huge research gap in understanding the factors shaping their functional activities in the rhizosphere. Recently, native microorganisms retrieved from healthy soils have shown thriving effect in plant growth stimulation. This study aimed to compare the outcome of two commercially available native microbial products, (namely LBM) on the growth and yield of Borlotti beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) in open-field experiment. The research hypothesis suggested that microbial inoculants could increase the efficiency of water use in beans thereby leading to seeds yield augmentation, in the total absence of chemical fertilization. The results of the study indicated that plant growth and productivity parameters were clearly affected by LBM application. Moreover, the organic fertilizer (OF) enhanced the effectiveness of microbial consortia significantly by increasing leaf area (89%), above ground biomass (56%), pods number per plant (50%), pods weight (73%) and seed mass (78%), compared to the control. This study highlights a raise of WUE by 44-54% subsequently to microbial treatments versus 6.7% recorded with the mineral fertilizer, under normal irrigation conditions. The hypothesis of this study was positively confirmed by a high correlation between WUE and seed mass per plant (r ₌ 0.84) or weight of 1000-seeds (r ₌ 0.61). In conclusion, the co-incorporation of native microbial inoculants and organic amendments can help to meet requirements of beans crops, thus, allowing the replacement of mineral fertilizer while safeguarding yields and quality of the final product (pods and seeds).