JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

The soil organic matter plays an important role in increasing agricultural products and various nutrient cycle in the soil due to its effect on the physical, chemical and biological properties of soil. There is, however, little information regarding the effect of growth promoting bacteria on biological indices and different forms of carbon in agricultural soils of the country. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate the effect of plant growth promoting bacteria on soil respiration, microbial quotient, organic carbon, microbial carbon biomass, permanganate oxidizable carbon, cold water extractable organic C, and hot water extractable organic C under the cultivation of wheat, Chamran cultivar. The experiment was conducted in greenhouse condition as a randomized complete design with 9 replications. Treatments consisted of bacterium inoculation (without inoculation, Enterobacter cloacae Rhizo_33, Enterobacter cloacae Rhizo_R1
and mixof both bacteria). During the experiment, some characteristics such as plant height and chlorophyll index were measured. At the end of the cultivation period, root and aerial part dry weight and grain yield were determined. Biological properties and different forms of carbon in the soil were measured after cultivation. The results indicated the applied plant growth promoting bacteria increased chlorophyll index, height, root and shoot dry weight and grain yield, as compared to the control. The minimum value of pH and the highest amount of each carbon forms were obtained by soil inoculation with different strains of bacteria, as compared to the control. The highest value of organic carbon was observed in the presence of the consortium of both bacteria with 22.7% increase, as compared to the control. The highest amount of microbial carbon biomass was, respectively, measured in the treatments containing consortium of bacteria, Enterobacter cloacae Rhizo_R1, Enterobacter cloacae Rhizo_33 with 87.67, 42 and 26.5% increment, as compared to the control. A positive and significant correlation was observed between cold and hot water extractable organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon and permanganate oxidizable carbon with soil respiration and there was a negative correlation between mentioned properties and the soil pH. The use of microbial inoculants increased the carbon content of the soil, which can play a positive role for improvement of   physical and chemical properties of the soil and plant yield.