| Abstract: | In a pot experiment the effect of inoculation of a salt affected calcareous soil with phosphate dissolving bacteria (PDB) on dehydrogenase activity and P-uptake by barley plants was investigated. Four levels of artificial salinity were used, i. e., 0.2, 0.4, 0.8 and 1.2 % total soluble salts. Inoculation increased PDB in all treatments, but it did not affect the microbial activity in the soil as represented by dehydrogenase activity. The higher the salt level the lower the counts of PDB and dehydrogenase activity in the soil. A positive significant difference was recorded in P-uptake as a result of inoculation and a negative one as a result of increasing salinity. |
