March 2025
BreadAndBeer - Growth-promoting bacteria for barley and wheat in field experiments
Field experiment to investigate the effect of plant growth-promoting bacteria (seed inoculation) on the yield of winter wheat, grain quality and the rhizosphere microbiome (Photo: S. Ratering).
In field experiments at the Gladbacherhof and Kleinhohenheim organic research stations, the effect of seed inoculation of winter wheat and spring barley with the growth-promoting bacterium Hartmannibacter diazotrophicus on yield, grain quality and the rhizosphere microbiome was investigated over three years. The aim of the investigations was to improve the grain quality of cereals in organic farming through “low-input” measures. Other factors that were investigated in addition to seed inoculation were different row spacing and fertilization in winter wheat. Treatments with the growth-promoting bacterium showed a higher straw yield and crude protein content in winter wheat compared to non-inoculated varieties. In spring barley, the protein and amylose content was higher in the inoculated plants. The microbiome of the rhizosphere was not altered by seed inoculation and Hartmannibacter diazotrophicus could still be detected up to 273 days after sowing.
Quiroga S., Rosado-Porto D., Ratering S., Rekowski A., Schulz F., Krutych M., Zörb C. and Schnell S. (2024) Long-term detection of Hartmannibacter diazotrophicus on winter wheat and spring barley roots under field conditions revealed positive correlations on yield parameters with the bacterium abundance. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 100: fiae023
Quiroga S., Ratering S., Rosado-Porto D., Rekowski A., Schulz F., Zörb C. and Schnell S. (2025) Seed inoculation of Hartmannibacter diazotrophicus does not alter the rhizosphere bacterial microbiome of wheat and barley in a three-year field trial. Appl. Soil Ecol. 206: 105823
funded by BMBF Rhizo4bio
For more information:
Prof. Dr. Sylvia Schnell, General and Soil Microbiology