Abstract
Iron (Fe)is one of the principle micronutrients critical for plant development and grain quality. Chickpea (Cicer aeritum) and soybean (Glycine max) are vital leguminous crops known for high protein contents in grain. But quality of grain is affected due to low level of available Fe content. Application of Fe-enriched bacteriosiderophore through foliar spray might increase Fe content in grain and improve its quality. Therefore, present study was conducted to explore the interactive effect of rhizobium application as seed inoculation and bacteriosiderophore as foliar spray on growth and yield parameters of legume crops. Rhizobium sp. from chickpea nodules was selected for seed inoculation and bacillus megaterium as foliar spray on the basis of amount of siderophore produced. Their synergestic effect was tested on field grown chickpea and soybean crops by applying bacteriosiderophore with or without inorganic Fe addition on foliage at flowering stage. Data regarding plant height, No. of nodules after a week of spray and pods per plant, grain yield, N, P uptake and grain Fe contents were recorded at time of harvest. The data of grain quality showed more improvement in iron contents in soybean (1.44 fold) and chickpea (4.07 fold) as compared to control (water) with synergistic effect of rhizobium and bacterio-siderophore. Maximum plant height, No. of nodules and pods were observed in combined application of bacteriosiderophore enriched with iron and rhizobium. Similarly, maximum chickpea grain yield of 2.16 and 1.6-fold in soybean produced where coinoculation of seed with rhizobium and foliar bacteriosiderophore was done. Thus, it was observed that foliar implantation of siderophore containing bacteria with added Fe could be an economical approach towards Fe fortification in leguminous crop plants grown on alkaline calcareous soil