Effects of the Combinations of Rhizobacteria, Mycorrhizae, and Seaweed, and Supplementary Irrigation on Growth and Yield in Wheat Cultivars

Wheat is a staple food consumed by the majority of people in the world and its production needs to be doubled to feed the growing population. On the other hand, global wheat productivity is greatly affected due to drought and low fertility of soil under arid and semi-arid regions. Application of supplementary irrigation and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) has been suggested as sustainable measures to combat drought stress and to improve soil fertility and, hence, crop yield. This research was undertaken to study the effect of supplementary irrigation together with a combination of various PGPR on the growth and yield of two wheat cultivars, namely Sardari and Sirvan. The results of variance analysis (mean of squares) showed that the effect of irrigation, cultivar, and irrigation and biofertilizer and irrigation on height, spike length, seed/spike, and numbers of spikes/m(2), 1000-seed weight, and grain yield were significant at 1% probability level. The effect of cultivar and irrigation interactions showed that the highest grain yield was obtained in a treatment with two additional irrigations in Sirvan cultivar (5015.0 kg/ha) and Sardari (4838.9 kg/ha) as compared to the 3598 kg/ha and 3598.3 kg/h grain yield in Sirvan and Sardari cultivars with similar treatment, but without irrigation, i.e., dryland farming. Drought conditions significantly affected the wheat grain yield while supplementary irrigation resulted in 39.38% and 34.48% higher yields in Sirvan and Sardari cultivars.

Automated summary

Wheat is a staple food for the majority of people globally, and its production needs to double to meet the needs of the growing population. Drought and low soil fertility in arid and semi-arid regions greatly affect global wheat productivity. Supplementary irrigation and PGPR have been suggested as sustainable measures to combat drought stress and improve soil fertility. The study found that supplementary irrigation and different combinations of PGPR significantly influenced the growth and yield of wheat cultivars. Drought conditions significantly reduced wheat grain yield, but supplementary irrigation led to a substantial increase in yield for the cultivars studied.