Mirjana Jarak

Effects of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria on maize in greenhouse and field trial

L.) is an important crop in temperate and semi-arid regions and one of the three major food staple crops for the world’s population. In Serbia, maize is grown on about 1 200 000 ha of soils per year and results of yield testing on numerous locations show its high genetic potential (Jockovic et al., 2010). Beside the genetic potential, achieving higher yields also require appropriate application of agro-technical measures, espe-cially fertilization. After nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) is the most limiting nutrient for crop yields, and is essential for maize growth and development (Wu et al., 2005). In order to increase the natural fertility of soils and develop new approaches to reduce the need for chemical ferti-lizers and pesticides the rhizosphere microorganisms *Corresponding author. E-mail: mirjana@polj.uns.ac.rs. Tel/Fax: +381 21 4853 426. especially some rhizobacteria called plant growth promo-ting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are recognized as an important factor in sustainable agricultural production (Mrkovacki and Bjelic, 2011). PGPR may be important for plant nutrition by increa-sing N and P uptake by plants, and playing a significant role in the biofertilization of crops (Cakmakci et al., 2005). Maize stimulates different N