Cowpeas subjected to saline water and plant growth-promoting bacteria

The objective of this study was to evaluate the development of cowpeas irrigated with saline water and inoculated with plant growth- promoting bacteria, using a fluvic neosol sample. For this purpose, an experiment was conducted in a greenhouse at the State University of Bahia in Juazeiro, Brazil, using 700 ml pots containing 0.6 kg of soil in a 4x2 factorial design, in which the first factor involved inoculation of 1 ml of the following bacteria: Bacillus subtilis (1 x 109 CFU), Azospirillum brasilense (1.8 x 108 CFU), a mixture of the two strains and a control without inoculum. The second factor considered two water sources with different electrical conductivities (EC): water from the São Francisco River, with an EC of 0.065 dSm-1, and water from an artesian well with an EC of 5.54 dSm-1. The plants were evaluated for growth promotion at 15 and 35 days after emergence (DAE). Isolated inoculation of B. subtilis or intercropped with A. brasilense increased the leaf area and shoot height at 15 and 35 DAE, even under high salinity conditions. Inoculating growth-promoting bacteria may be a possible alternative in cowpea cultivation under saline conditions, contributing to the agricultural sustainability of the semi-arid region of Bahia, Brazil