ABSTRACT
A field experiment was conducted at the experimental Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria, to study the influence of Bacillus spp, on the growth and yield of maize (Zea mays). Therefore, the use of efficient Phosphate Solubilizing Microbes (PSB) was adopted to check the most effective ways to solubilize this apatite mineral in soil.
The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete blocked design (RCBD) with three treatments, T1 (control), T2 (Poultry Manure) and T3 (Poultry manure + Bacillus spp) that were replicated three times. Data were collected on plant height, number of leaves, leaf area and stem girth from week 2 after sowing till the 8th week. After 8 weeks of treatment, the experiment was terminated and nine soil samples were collected from the rhizosphere of the maize plant and analyzed for its physical, chemical and microbial properties. The result from the experiment indicate an increase in soil properties especially with the inoculated (Bacillus spp) plots. Soil pH increased slightly from extremely acidic (4.0) before sowing to very strongly acidic (4.55) at the end of the experiment.
In terms of available phosphorus, plot inoculated with Bacillus spp (T3) had increased value (43.0mg/kg) when compared to that without amendment (T1; 8.66mg/kg). This study therefore encourages the use of phosphate solubilizing bacteria (Bacillus spp) for increased growth and yield of maize plants.
