Promoting fruit seedling growth by encapsulated microorganisms

Abstract The use of microorganisms capable of promoting plant growth has been accepted as an alternative to reducing the use of chemical fertilizers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the inoculation of plant growth promoting microorganisms in seedlings of fruit species, verifying the interaction of the inoculums with encapsulating agents such as clay and alginate. Microbial inoculums contained the following species: Azospirillum brasilense, Burkolderia cepacia, Bacillus thuringienses, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus cereus,Bacillus subtilis, Tricoderma spp. and isolate 411. The fruit species evaluated were: Myrciaria cauliflora (DC.) O. Berg; Myrciaria glazioviana (Kiaersk.) G. Barros &Sobral; Myrciaria dubia (Kunth) Mc Vaugh; Eugenia brasiliensis Lam.; Diospyroskaki L.; Garcinia brasiliensis Mart.; Annona muricata L.; Duguetia lanceolata A. St.-Hil.; Chrysophyllum cainito L.; Anacardium occidentale L.; Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb.) Lindl. and Litchi chinensis Sonn. The experimental design was completely randomized, in a factorial scheme 3 (control, sodium alginate and clay) x 2 (presence and absence of microbial inoculum) with five replicates (one seedling per replicate). Seedlings were maintained in 50% of illumination at an average temperature of 22.5 °C for ninety days, and plant height, diameter, root and shoot dry mass were evaluated. Plant growth promoting microorganisms, regardless of encapsulation used, promote higher development of C. cainito and L. chinensis seedlings.