Effects of growth-promoting bacteria on growth, yield and nutritional value of collard plants

Clean agriculture is vital for the future and it is supported by good agricultural practices as well as organic agriculture. The optimum use of resources in good agricultural practices minimizes the chemical inputs. Organic vegetable production is rapidly increasing around the world. Collard is a commonly used food in most of the Mediterranean diets. The current study was done during 2017 and 2018 winter seasons on collard (Brassica oleracea var. acephala) cv Georgia from Brassicaceae family, to study the effect of biofertilization using four bacterial strains of PGPB (Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria). The studied bacterial strains include Serratia marcescens (AP-4), Pseudomonas poae (AP-19), Plannbacter flavus (AP-21) and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens subsp. plantar= (AP-303) compared with the control plants. The effects of four PGPB strains on vegetative growth, yield and mineral content were tabulated. Results revealed that the treatment with AP-303 produced the highest significant values of plant height, number of leaves and leaf areas in both seasons. The highest yield was obtained from AP-303 treatment (117.78 g/plant and 117.47 g/plant, respectively), followed by AP-19 (111.41 g/plant and 109.88 g/plant, respectively). AP-4 and control treatments recorded the lowest yield in both seasons. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd.