Abstract
Abstract Chickpea is a major pulse crop in Ethiopia, and the country is a leading producer and exporter in Africa. However, productivity continue to fall short of the full potential of the crop. Utilization of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria is advantageous for sustainable agricultural practices. Hence, this research aimed to assess the effect of inoculating Mesorhizobium and rhizobacteria strains on the nodulation, growth and grain yield of chickpea under field conditions. Two mesorhizobia and two rhizobacteria elite strains from previous works were used for the field experiment in two different agro-ecologies. Chickpea varieties Natoli representing the Desi type and Arerti representing the Kabuli type were used. Treatments were laid down in a randomized complete block design with 10 treatments in triplicates. The results showed that the consortium (Mesorhizobium sp. ABA1 + Mesorhizobium sp. ABA2 + Enterobacter mori AND7 + Serratia marcescens MAZ9) inoculation scored significantly the highest nodulation and yield characters such as nodule numbers (52/p and 46/p), nodule dry weight (214.8 mg/p and 193.5 mg/p), shoot dry weight (18.21 g/p and 15.40 g/p), shoot length (43.5 cm and 43.5 cm), shoot nitrogen (4.88% and 4.53%), number of pods (68.5/p and 62.0/p), hundred seed weight (30.40 g and 29.61 g), and grain yield (3116 and 2719 kg ha−1) in Deberaso and Kalay sites, respectively. The result showed that the inoculation of chickpea by Mesorhizobium and rhizobacteria strains has boosted the legume productivity at the Deberaso and Kalay sites which can be proposed as biofertilizer after repeated confirmatory tests. This can lead to improved crop productivity and reduced reliance on chemical fertilizers.