Effects of Multi-Species Microbial Inoculants on Early Wheat Growth and Litterbag Microbial Activity

The use of microbial consortia (MC) with complementing features is considered to be a promising method sustainable crop intensification, potentially trumping the limited performance single-strain applications. We assessed effect two novel MC on early wheat growth and litterbag activity in heated unheated soil. Pot experiments were carried out duplicate greenhouse over 63 days using completely randomized design six replications. A range parameters plant nutrient uptake regularly statistically analyzed by ANOVA. litterbag-NIRS was used trace activity. Averaged both trials, soil heating resulted significant increase shoot biomass (+53%) subsequent nitrogen (+307 mg N pot?1) but strongly reduced root development (?46%) compared application had no By contrast, soil, (+12%) (+15%) (+11%) significantly increased after double inoculation autoclaved MC. confirmed clear effects Differences between control noted, indicating buffering