Inoculation with Rhizobial consortium for improving the growth,yield and quality of Maize under salt-stressed conditions

Salinity is one of the major factors which affect overall food production of the world,especially in arid and semi-arid regions. present study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of four [two from chickpea (crm-7 and crm-9) and two from lentil (lmr-5 and lmr-10)] different strains of rhizobia individually as well as their consortium for reducing the effect of salinity on the growth and yield of maize in pot experiment under wire house conditions. salinity stress negatively affected the growth,yield,quality parameters and chlorophyll contents of maize. however,rhizobial inoculation significantly reduced the adverse effects of salinity. multi-strain rhizobial inoculation proved better approach than sole rhizobial inoculation. improvement in plant height (34%),grain yield (49%),cob length (67%) and weight (25%),relative water content (57%),crude protein (34%),quality parameters n (34%),p (36%) and k (36%) in grains,and chlorophyll contents (37,37 and 46% in chlorophyll a,b and carotenoids,respectively) was observed by consortial inoculation (lmr-5,lmr-10,crm-7 and crm-9) compared to unstressed un-inoculated control at 8 ds m-1. among separate inoculation,chickpea rhizobial isolates performed better than lentil rhizobial isolates in inducing salinity tolerance in maize. it can be suggested that rhizobium consortium has better potential to promote growth and yield of maize than separate use of these strains. however,site specific field evaluation is required to confirm capability of consortial inoculant to get maximum benefit in terms of better growth and yield. © 2017,university of agriculture. all rights reserved.