Comparative Study of Biological and Chemical Fertilizers as a Stimulator of Physiological and Growth Parameters of Triticum aestivum L.

Chemical fertilizers have been extensively used in agriculture to boost crop production. Despite their proven effectiveness, they pose significant environmental and health risks. In response, researchers have explored sustainable alternatives that can enhance productivity while reducing ecological impact. Biofertilizers have emerged as a promising solution. Hence, the idea of this research came to conduct a comparison between a chemical fertilizer (NPK) and two types of biological fertilizers (Bacillus megaterium and Pseudomonas putida ) in their effect on some physiological and growth characteristics of three varieties of Triticum aestivum (Abu Ghraib, Al-Fath and Al-Rashidiya). Ten milliliters of biofertilizers (as broth culture) were added to the rhizosphere and NPK was added with 1% concentration. The variables measured on the plants under examination included shoot dry weight, total chlorophyll and carotenes content, soot content of N, proteins, K, and P. Results showed that the biofertilizers used in the current study increased the level of all studied traits when compared to the NPK fertilizer. Biofertilizers augmented the nitrogen concentration within the plants by 51.8% and 60.4%, with identical percentages observed for the protein content. Furthermore, they enhanced the potassium concentration in the plants by 26.8% and 27.32%, as these percentages appeared under the influence of Bacillus and Pseudomonas respectively. The highest phosphorus content appeared for Bacillus treatments, represented by the value 1.93%. The three varieties of wheat showed different responses to the fertilizers used in the study, but Al-Rashidia variety showed the greatest response to the fertilizers for most of the studied traits.