ABSTRACT
A field experiment was conducted at the experimental Farm at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria to study the effects of Pseudomonas and Klebsiella species on soil P-Availability for maize (zea mays L.) cultivation. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete design (RCBD) using three treatments (T1=CONTROL, T2-NPK and T3-NPK+Pseudomonas sp. + Klebsiella sp.) replicated three times.
To evaluate this, plant growth promoting rhizosphere bacteria (PGPR), Klebsiella sp. and Pseudomonas sp. capable of solubilization of both organic and inorganic phosphorus. Maize seeds were cultivated at a spacing of 25cm x 75cm on a plot size of 2.5m2 and thereafter inoculated with the organisms at the rhizosphere. The agronomic parameters for the maize plant were number of leaves, plant height, leaf area and stem girth. After 8 weeks of the treatment, the experiment was terminated and soil samples were collected from the rhizosphere of the maize plant and analyzed for both its physical, chemical and microbial properties. Result obtained from the experiment showed that application of NPK with the inoculation of PSB increases the availability of phosphorus and the vegetative growth of the maize plant. The soil pH was very strongly acidic before and after sowing from (4.0 – 4.6) respectively. Soil organic carbon, TN, Av.P, unavailable phosphorus also increased with the application of NPK + PSB after sowing. T3 (NPK + Pseudomonas sp. + klebsiella sp.) had the highest plant height (156.7cm) at week 8 and also with the highest number of plant leaf (13).
The result of this finding shows that NPK + PSB should be encouraged to improve the soil nutrient content available for plant uptake.
