Effects of Some Plant Growth Promoting Bacterial Strains on Plant Growth of Saplings at ‘Sekerpare’ Apricot Cultivar

This study was to investigate the effects of some plant growth promoting rhizobacteria strains (pantoea agglomerans rk-79, rk-80 and rk-92; serratia liquefaciens rk-102; pseudomonas putida rk-142) plant height, stem diameter, shoot number, shoot diameter, shoot lenght, leaf area, lateral root number and diameter of one year-old saplings from apricot (prunus armeniaca l. cv 'şekerpare') growth in field conditions in 2007 and 2008. all bacterial strains caused significant increase in annual shoot number, shoot diameter and shoot lenght compared to the control. there was not a significant change on leaf area of saplings in the first year. but, it was determined that pantoea agglomerans strain rk-79 and pseudomonas putida strain rk-142 caused a significant increase on leaf area in the second year. pantoea agglomerans strain rk-79 was the most effective strain. consequently, pantoea agglomerans strain rk-79 had a statistically significant increase on plant growth parameters in both years compared to the control and the other bacterial strains. for this reason, we think that this bacterial strain could be used as biofertilizers.