FRESENIUS ENVIRONMENTAL BULLETIN, cilt.24, sa.5, ss.1673-1678, 2015 (SCI-Expanded)
Two pot experiments were carried out to examine the effects of soil types (sand and sandy loam soil) and inoculation of Bacillus atrophaeus and a arbuscular mycorrhizae inoculum assemblage on seedling growth of four grass species (Agropyron cristatum L., Bromus inennisLeyss.,Dactylis glomerata L. and Koeleria cristata L.). The results of ANOVA indicated that plant height, root length, above and belowground biomass were significantly affected by the soil types, the inoculation treatments and the grass species. Mycorrhizae inoculation strongly influenced plant height, root length, above and belowground biomass compared to bacterial inoculation and control. The effect of mycorrhizae inoculation was more pronounced under nutrient poor media (sand) in the experiment. On the other hand, bacteria inoculation had no positive effect on the investigated parameters of the grasses compared to the control. It is concluded that mycorrhizae can contribute to seedling growth of cool season grasses examined in this study, especially under nutrient poor conditions. However, the effect of the Bacillus atrophaeus inoculation was not significant on the seedling growth of the grass species examined in this study.