Grain Yield and Quality Response of Common Bean Cultivar to Inoculation with Native Rhizobacteria

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of native Rhizobium and CIAT899 inoculation on grain yield, protein content, cookability, nonsoaker capacity, hidration coefficient, seed weight and total defects of dry bean (cv. Yunus 90, the most popular cultivar in Turkey). The number of live Rhizobium sp. in the inoculant was adjusted to 10⁸ CFU ml^-1 and the seed inoculation was performed at planting. Native Rhizobium inoculation significantly (P<0.01) increased the physical and cookability properties of the bean seed. Results also revealed that the inoculation with native Rhizobium increased the yield and protein content of beans compared to control (reference strain). Overall findings indicated that native Rhizobium inoculation, easy to handle, could be a promising fertilizer, improving the plant growth and seed quality. It is possible to conclude that the efficiency of native Rhizobium inoculation could further be improved with the additional use of biological, chemical or organic fertilizers.