In reduced input systems, improving agricultural practices that increase plant nutrient capture efficiency, increase crop production and sustainability. The objective of this work were to assess the impact of applying different concentrations of seaweed liquid extract (SWLE) by soaking seeds and / or coating it with A. lipoferaum suspension on growth and productivity of sunflower in newly reclaimed soil. The results proved that the combined treatment of SWLE and A. lipoferum was better than the individual treatments on growth and yield of the plants. The combined treatments T5 exhibited promoting effect on growth and yield parameters. It exhibited a significant increase in A. lipoferaum rhizospheric population higher than the control and other treatments. A significant increase in nitrogenase and dehydrogenase activity, photosynthetic pigments, growth hormones, yield parameter and oil seed fatty acids content were also observed. The correlation study proved that there was a high significantly correlation between some growth parameters, photosynthetic pigments, rhizospheric bacterial count and the total yield. The facilitation of nutrients, growth hormones and other constituents in SWLE and A. lipoferaum suspension might be very much useful to the crops. It could be concluded that SWLE in combination with A. lipoferaum suspension could serve as cost effective eco-friendly product for sustainable agriculture.
Key words: free nitrogen fixer bacteria, growth hormones, seaweed liquid extract, sunflower.
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