title: Bacterial impregnation of mineral fertilizers improves yield and nutrient use efficiency of wheat.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The fertilizer use efficiency (FUE) of agricultural crops is generally low, which results in poor crop yields and low economic benefits to farmers. Among the various approaches used to enhance FUE, impregnation of mineral fertilizers with plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) is attracting worldwide attention. The present study was aimed to improve growth, yield and nutrient use efficiency of wheat by bacterially impregnated mineral fertilizers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results of the pot study revealed that impregnation of diammonium phosphate (DAP) and urea with PGPB was helpful in enhancing the growth, yield, photosynthetic rate, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and phosphorus use efficiency (PUE) of wheat. However, the plants treated with F8 type DAP and urea, prepared by coating a slurry of PGPB (Bacillus sp. strain KAP6) and compost on DAP and urea granules at the rate of 2.0 g 100 g-1fertilizer, produced better results than other fertilizer treatments. In this treatment, growth parameters including plant height, root length, straw yield and root biomass significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased from 58.8 to 70.0 cm, 41.2 to 50.0 cm, 19.6 to 24.2 g per pot and 1.8 to 2.2 g per pot, respectively. The same treatment improved grain yield of wheat by 20% compared to unimpregnated DAP and urea (F0). Likewise, the maximum increase in photosynthetic rate, grain NP content, grain NP uptake, NUE and PUE of wheat were also recorded with F8 treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that the application of bacterially impregnated DAP and urea is highly effective for improving growth, yield and FUE of wheat. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Arid Land Agriculture, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.|Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Shakeel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.affiliation: Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan.|Soil and Environmental Sciences Division, Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology (NIAB), Faisalabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Imran
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Sabir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hussain
authors.affiliation: Department of Arid Land Agriculture, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.|Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Sajid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mahmood
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil Science, University College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, The Islamia University Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Azhar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hussain
authors.affiliation: Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hasnain
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D005308:Fertilizers / Q000032:analysis*; D008903:Minerals / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D014908:Triticum / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D005308:Fertilizers; D008903:Minerals; D012987:Soil; D010758:Phosphorus; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Bacillus; fertilizer use efficiency; impregnated DAP; impregnated urea