Effects of Nitrogen Fertilization and Nitrogen Fixing Endophytic Bacteria Supplementation on Soil Fertility, N Uptake, Growth, and Yield of Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) Cultivated on Alluvial Soil in Dykes

Table 4

Effects of nitrogen fertilizer levels and nitrogen fixing endophytic bacteria supplementation, Enterobacter spp., on growth of sesame cultivated on alluvial soil in dykes at harvest.

Factors		Plant height (cm)	Number of leaves per plant (leaf)	Leaf length (cm)	Leaf width (cm)	Chl a (μg mL^−1)	Chl b (μg mL^−1)	Chl a + b (μg mL^−1)
Nitrogen fertilizer levels (A) (%)	0	30.0^d	8.93^d	4.64^d	2.72^d	6.05^d	1.54^d	7.60^d
	50	40.2^c	12.6^c	6.26^c	3.47^c	9.59^c	2.71^c	12.2^c
	75	43.5^b	14.3^b	6.79^b	3.94^b	11.9^b	3.11^b	15.0^b
	100	46.7^a	15.2^a	7.41^a	4.64^a	12.5^a	3.40^a	15.9^a
NFEB inoculants (B) (8 × 10^7 CFU g^−1 DSW)	No-NFEB	38.1^d	11.7^d	5.89^b	3.36^b	9.38^c	2.45^b	11.8^c
	ASD-48	39.8^c	13.1^b	6.49^a	3.72^a	9.93^b	2.83^a	12.8^b
	ASD-21	40.7^b	12.4^c	6.34^a	3.85^a	9.87^b	2.63^ab	12.4^b
	Mixture	41.7^a	13.8^a	6.39^a	3.83^a	10.9^a	2.85^a	13.8^a
Significant differences	F (A)
	F (B)
	F (AB)			ns	ns		ns
CV (%)		2.23	7.10	10.1	11.0	6.74	14.6	6.75

In a column, the different superscripts indicate significant differences at 5% (, ), and without letter indicates no significant difference according to Duncan’s post hoc test at 5% level; Chl: chlorophyll; NFEB: nitrogen fixing endophytic bacteria; No-NFEB: no applied nitrogen fixing endophytic bacteria; Mixture: both ASD-48 and ASD-21; CV: coefficient of variation; DSW: dry soil weight.