Tripti Mishra, Alok Kumar Pandey, Mahendra Singh, Suresh Kumar, Anjaly Yadav, Deepak Kumar and Manu Shashwat
Abstract
A field experiment was conducted during the rabi season of 2025â26 to assess the effect of halophytic bacterial isolates applied individually and in combination with inorganic fertilizers on soil biological properties and wheat productivity under a partially reclaimed salt-affected soil at Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Ayodhya. The experiment consisted of ten treatments laid out in a randomized block design (RBD) with three replications using wheat as the test crop. The treatments comprised of TâControl; Tâ100% recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF) (120:60:40 kg N:P:K ha{¹); Tâ100% RDF + Klebsiella variicola ND15 @ 10 ml kg{¹seed; Tâ100% RDF + Bacillus licheniformis strain ND17 @ 10 ml kg{¹ seed; Tâ100% RDF + Priestia flexa ND16 @ 10 ml kg{¹ seed; Tâ 75% RDF + Klebsiella variicola ND15 @ 10 ml kg{¹ seed; Tâ75% RDF + Bacillus licheniformis strain ND17 @ 10 ml kg{¹ seed; Tâ75% RDF + Priestia flexa ND16 @ 10 ml kg{¹ seed; Tâ100% RDF + consortium of Bacillus licheniformis ND17, Priestia flexa ND16, and Klebsiella variicola ND15 @ 10 ml kg{¹ seed; and Tâ75% RDF + the same bacterial consortium @ 10 ml kg{¹ seed. The findings revealed that treatment T significantly enhanced grain yield over T, T, T, T, T, T, and T. However, its performance remained statistically comparable (P dâ 0.05) with T. Overall, the consortium based treatment exhibited superior efficacy in improving soil biological attributes, soil health, and wheat grain yield.