Microbial Effects on the Germination and Seedling Growth of Barley

Summary Barley seed was treated with micro‐organisms, or their metabolites and germinated and grown under conditions that in the absence of treatment were known to be favourable for plant development. There was a range of inhibitory and stimulatory effects of micro‐organisms on germination and on the weight and lengths of the roots and coleoptile. There were consistent positive correlations between the lengths of the longest root and of the total root system and between the lengths of the coleoptile and of the total root system.