Influence of Crop Growth Enhancer Bacteria on Yield and Essential Oil Content of Safflower (Carthamustinctorius L)

ABSTRACT: To examine the effect of crop growth enhancer bacteria on quantitative and qualitative yield of safflower, an experiment in randomized complete block design was conducted in eight levels with four replications. Bacterial factor consisted of control (absence of bacteria), AzotobacterChroococcum,AzospirillumBrazilians, Pseudomonas Fluorescens, AzotobacterChroococcum+Azospirillum Brazilians, AzotobacterChroococcum+ Pseudomonas Fluorescens, Azospirillum Brazilians+ Pseudomonas Fluorescens, AzotobacterChroococcum+ Azospirillum Brazilians+ Pseudomonas Fluorescens respectively. The results showed that the effect of bacteria inoculation on the grain yield was significant at 1% probability level. The highest grain yield with an average of 2284.3 kg ha -1 belonged to the treatment in which the seeds were inoculated with all three crop growth enhancer bacteria at planting time. In contrast, the lowest grain yield with an average of 1643.4 kg ha-1 was related to the control treatment (non-inoculation). Moreover, the percentage and yield of protein and oil were also affected by the application of bio-fertilizers, so that the highest percentage of protein and oil, related to inoculation with Azotobacter+ Azospirillum+ Pseudomonas, were 17.83% and 29.36% respectively and the lowest of this amounts such as grain yield were related to the control treatment with an average of 15.20% and 25.82% respectively. Based on the obtained results, Safflower seed inoculation with crop growth enhancer bacteria, especially with a combination of bacteria, improved crop’s yield and characteristics.