Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in bioorganic fertilizers as part of sustainable agricultural practices to alleviate drawbacks of intensive farming practices. N 2 -fixing and P-solubilizing bacteria are important in plant nutrition increasing N and P uptake by the plants, and playing a significant role as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria in the biofertilization of crops. A study was conducted in order to investigate the effects of two N 2 -fixing (OSU-140 and OSU-142) and a strain of P-solubilizing bacteria (M-13) in single, dual and three strains combinations on sugar beet and barley yields under field conditions in 2001 and 2002. The treatments included: (1) Control (no inoculation and fertilizer), (2) NP. N and NP plots were fertilized with 120 kg N ha −1 and 120 kg N ha −1 + 90 kg P ha − for sugar beet and 80 kg N ha −1 and 80 kg N ha −1 + 60 kg P ha −1 for barley. The experiments were conducted in a randomized block design with five replicates. All inoculations and fertilizer applications significantly increased leaf, root and sugar yield of sugar beet and grain and biomass yields of barley over the control. Single inoculations with N 2 -fixing bacteria increased sugar beet root and barley yields by 5.6-11.0% depending on the species while P-solubilizing bacteria alone gave yield increases by 5.5-7.5% compared to control. Dual inoculation and mixture of three bacteria gave increases by 7.7-12.7% over control as compared with 20.7-25.9% yield increases by NP application. Mixture of all three strains, dual inoculation of N 2 -fixing OSU-142 and P-solubilizing M-13, and/or dual inoculation N 2 -fixing bacteria significantly increased root and sugar yields of sugar beet, compared with single inoculations with OSU-140 or M-13. Dual inoculation of N 2 -fixing Bacillus OSU-140 and OSU-142, and/or mixed inoculations with three bacteria significantly increased grain yield of barley compared with single inoculations of OSU-142 and M-13. In contrast with other combinations, dual inoculation of N 2 -fixing OSU-140 and P-solubilizing M-13 did not always significantly increase leaf, root and sugar yield of sugar beet, grain and biomass yield of barley compared to single applications both with N 2 -fixing bacteria. The beneficial effects of the bacteria on plant growth varied significantly depending on environmental conditions, bacterial strains, and plant and soil conditions.

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SummaryDifferences in seed vigour of zero‐ and high‐tannin faba beans were investigated using 25 seed lots of 12 cultivars following earlier reports of poor emergence in the zero‐tannin types. Field emergence ranged from 54–96% indicating differences in seed vigour between cultivars all having high laboratory germination (>91%). Seed from zero‐tannin accessions with poor emergence had a higher incidence of testa and cotyledon cracking, a smaller percentage of hard seeds, more rapid water uptake, a lower percentage of vital staining of cotyledons and a greater leaching of solutes than high‐tannin types. Nevertheless, variation in these characteristics existed between cultivars and lines of both types. Seeds with more cracks in the seed coat and fewer hard seeds imbibed water more rapidly and consequently showed lower levels of vital staining and more cracks in the abaxial surface of the cotyledons. Slower imbibition in polyethylene glycol lessened the incidence of these deleterious characteristics and may provide a practical resolution to the problem of poor field emergence in zero‐tannin lines of faba bean with low seed vigour.

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Drawbacks of intensive farming practices and environmental costs of N fertilizers have renewed interest in bio‐fertilizers. This study was conducted in order to investigate the effectiveness of 7 N2‐fixing bacterial isolates from various sources in sugar beet and barley production under field conditions in the higland plateau of Erzurum, Turkey (29° 55′ N and 41° 16′ E with an altitude of 1950 m) in 1999 and 2000. Seeds were inoculated with five bacterial strains of Bacillus; BA‐140, BA‐142, M‐3, M‐13, and M‐58, a strain of Burkholderia (BA‐7) and Pseudomonas (BA‐8). The bacterial strains had been demonstrated to grow in N‐free basal medium. The experiment also included applications of mineral nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and NP‐fertilizer as well as a control treatment without inoculation and fertilizer application. Two years of trials under field conditions showed that seed inoculation with bacterial strains significantly affected yield, yield components, and quality parameters both in sugar beet and barley. On an average of both years, seed inoculation of sugar beet with BA‐140, BA‐142, M‐58, BA‐7, BA‐8, M‐13, and M‐3 increased root yield by 13.0, 12.6, 10.5, 9.2, 8.1, 6.1, and 6.5% as compared to the control and sugar yield by 7.8, 6.3, 5.1, 4.0, 3.2, 2.3, and 5.3%, respectively. N, P, and NP applications, however, increased root yield up to 13.6, 5.3, and 21.4% and sugar yield by 6.1, 4.0, and 14.8%, respectively. Of the bacteria tested, BA‐140 and BA‐142 had yields equal to N application. All bacterial inoculations also gave higher seed and total biomass yields in barley than control plots. BA‐140 and BA‐142 were top yielding strains. In conclusion, bacterial seed inoculations especially with BA‐140 and BA‐142 may satisfy nitrogen requirements of sugar beet and barley under field conditions even in upland areas.

SUMMARYThe in vitro resistance of five white and four coloured-flowered lines and cultivars of Vicia faba to seed and root inoculation with spore suspensions of the pathogenic soil-borne fungi, Fusarium culmorum and Pythium debaryanum, was investigated under aseptic conditions in the UK. The presence of foliar diseases was also assessed in the field in 1989/90. White-flowered lines were more susceptible than coloured genotypes to fungal infection during germination but equally resistant during seedling growth. High-tannin containing seed coats had chemical and physical properties which protected seeds against fungal infection during germination. Frequent cracking of the seed coat in a zero-tannin line was associated with a greater fungal contamination of seeds. Resistance to the foliar diseases Uromyces viciae-fabae and Botrytis fabae was not related to flower colour. The results are discussed in relation to emergence in white-flowered types.

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A study was conducted in order to investigate yields in relation to seed inoculation of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L. cv. Aziziye-94) with eight Rhizobium leguminosarum ssp. ciceri strains isolated from wild chickpeas (C. anatolicum) of high altitudes (2000-2500 m) in comparison with standard bacterial culture, uninoculated control and mineral nitrogen fertilizer application in the growth room and in the field in 1999, 2000 and 2001 in Erzurum (29°55¢N and 41°16¢E at an altitude of 1850 m), Turkey.In the growth room trial, bacterial inoculations significantly increased shoot dry weight, N %, total N, N fixed and efficiency of symbiosis compared with the uninoculated control treatment depending on the strains. In the field trial, inoculations with HF 274 and HF 177 increased nodule dry weight, N %, chlorophyll, seed yield and total biomass yield depending on the strains, the lowest values being recorded in uninoculated plots. As an average of years, inoculation with HF 274, HF 177 and standard bacterial culture increased seed yields, respectively, by 23.3, 22.7 and 16.8 % over uninoculated control.In conclusion, rhizobial inoculation of chickpea with HF 274 and HF 177 strains isolated from wild chickpeas (C. anatolicum) of high altitudes may substitute costly N fertilizers in chickpea production even in cold highland areas such as Erzurum.