Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria Enhance Soil Key Enzymes, Plant Growth, Seed Yield, and Qualitative Attributes of Guar
Ahmed M. El-Sawah,
Ali El-Keblawy,
Dina Fathi Ismail Ali,
Heba M. Ibrahim,
Mohamed A. El-Sheikh,
Anket Sharma,
Yousef Alhaj Hamoud,
Hiba Shaghaleh,
Marian Brestic,
Milan Skalicky,
You-Cai Xiong,
Mohamed S. Sheteiwy
Affiliations
Ahmed M. El-Sawah
Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt
Ali El-Keblawy
Department of Applied Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Dina Fathi Ismail Ali
Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt
Heba M. Ibrahim
Department of Botany, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt
Mohamed A. El-Sheikh
Botany and Microbiology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Anket Sharma
State Key Laboratory of Silviculture, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China
Yousef Alhaj Hamoud
College of Agricultural Science and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Hiba Shaghaleh
Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab for the Chemistry and Utilization of Agro-Forest Biomass, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Marian Brestic
Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 16500 Prague, Czech Republic
Milan Skalicky
Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 16500 Prague, Czech Republic
You-Cai Xiong
State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Institute of Arid Agroecology, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Mohamed S. Sheteiwy
Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt
Guar is an economically important legume crop that is used for gum production. The clean and sustainable production of guar, especially in newly reclaimed lands, requires biofertilizers that can reduce the use of mineral fertilizers, which have harmful effects on human health and the environment. The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of biofertilizers produced from Bradyrhizobium sp., Bacillus subtilis, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), individually or in combinations, on microbial activity, and nutrients of the soils and the guar growth and seed quality and yield. The application of biofertilizers improved shoot length, root length, number of branches, plant dry weight, leaf area index (LAI), chlorophyll content, and nutrient uptake of guar plants compared with the control plants. Moreover, the application with biofertilizers resulted in an obvious increase in seed yield and has improved the total proteins, carbohydrates, fats, starch, and guaran contents in the seeds. Additionally, biofertilizer treatments have improved the soil microbial activity by increasing dehydrogenase, phosphatase, protease, and invertase enzymes. Soil inoculation with the optimized doses of biofertilizers saved about 25% of the chemical fertilizers required for the entire guar growth stages. Our results could serve as a practical strategy for further research into integrated plant-microbe interaction in agriculture.
