Abstract :
ABSTRACT: Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) for cereal production is approximately 33%. Furthermore, increased cereal NUE must accompany increased yields needed to feed a growing world population that has yet to benefit from the promise of N2–fixing cereal crops. Therefore, it is necessary to use bio-fertilizer which contains two strains of bacteria (Azospirillum and Azotobacter) promotes shoot growth and root development in crops as they ensure better nitrogen consumption. Hence, a greenhouse experiment was conducted to assess the effects of bio-fertilizer infection (inoculation by Nitroxin and non inoculation) with contrasting mineral nitrogen fertilizer (doses of 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100% recommended nitrogen; RN) on seed N concentration (SNC), nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), SPAD index, root dry weight (RDW), number of seed per spike (NS spike-1), seed weight (SW), crop dry weight (CDW), and grain yield (GY) of barley. The ANOVA revealed that the inoculation and N rate treatments, and also their interaction exerted a significant effect on all traits. On average, SPAD index increased from 34.00 at non inoculation by 0%RN to 46.17 at inoculation by 80%RN, RDW from 3.87 to 6.40 g pot-1, NS spike-1 from 11.25 to 22.85 seed, SW from 20.39 to 39.43 mg, GY from 1.42 to 6.40 g pot-1, and CDW from 7.98 to 13.85 g pot-1. Maximum traits of SNC and RUE were observed in inoculation by 80%RN. Therefore, application of 80%RN with inoculation by Nitroxin could reduce the N fertilizer up to 20%.
