Determination of the effects of plant growth promoting bacteria applications on the early development period of broad bean (Vicia faba L.) plant

This study was conducted to determine the effects of plant growth-promoting bacterial applications on the early growth stages of faba bean (Vicia faba L.). The experiment was carried out under controlled conditions in the plant growth chamber of the Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, Siirt University. The temperature of the chamber was maintained at 25 ± 3 °C throughout the experiment. Until the completion of the trial, plants were exposed to a photoperiod of 16 hours of darkness and 8 hours of light. Four cultivars, namely Salkım, Kıtık, Tugay, and Filiz, were used in the study. As plant growth-promoting bacteria, three different asymbiotic bacterial strains and their triple combination were applied, while Rhizobium leguminosarum was used as the symbiotic bacterium. The experiment was designed according to a factorial arrangement in a randomized complete block design with four replications. The evaluated traits included emergence rate, emergence index, mean emergence time, emergence uniformity, stem diameter, stem length, root diameter, root length, stem fresh weight, stem dry weight, root fresh weight, root dry weight, stem fresh/root fresh ratio, stem dry/root dry ratio, and chlorophyll content. According to the results, among the bacterial treatments, Rhizobium leguminosarum was found to be the most effective, while among the cultivars, Tugay performed superiorly.