Abstract
Salinity is one of the major factors which affect overall food production of the world, especially in arid and semi-arid
regions. Present study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of four [two from chickpea (CRM-7 and CRM-9) and two
from lentil (LMR-5 and LMR-10)] different strains of rhizobia individually as well as their consortium for reducing the
effect of salinity on the growth and yield of maize in pot experiment under wire house conditions. Salinity stress negatively
affected the growth, yield, quality parameters and chlorophyll contents of maize. However, rhizobial inoculation
significantly reduced the adverse effects of salinity. Multi-strain rhizobial inoculation proved better approach than sole
rhizobial inoculation. Improvement in plant height (34%), grain yield (49%), cob length (67%) and weight (25%), relative
water content (57%), crude protein (34%), quality parameters N (34%), P (36%) and K (36%) in grains, and chlorophyll
contents (37, 37 and 46% in chlorophyll a, b and carotenoids, respectively) was observed by consortial inoculation (LMR-5, LMR-10, CRM-7 and CRM-9) compared to unstressed un-inoculated control at 8 dS m-1
. Among separate inoculation, chickpea rhizobial isolates performed better than lentil rhizobial isolates in inducing salinity tolerance in maize. It can be
suggested that rhizobium consortium has better potential to promote growth and yield of maize than separate use of these
strains. However, site specific field evaluation is required to confirm capability of consortial inoculant to get maximum
benefit in terms of better growth and yield.
