Impact of inoculant and foliar fertilization on root system parameters of pea (Pisum sativum l.)

In recent years, sustainable crop development has played a key role in current strategies to improve roots activity, which increase nutrients uptake in pulse crop. Our study presents the relationship between root system morphology, inoculant application with and without foliar fertilization and nitrogen accumulation in soil and plants. Two inoculants: Nitragina and IUNG, foliar fertilizer (Photrel), as well as two pea cultivars were studied in three years (2009–2011) period. The research has shown that bacterial inoculants have signifiant inflence on the selected parameters of pea root systems. Gel inoculant signifiantly increased mean root diameter (0.44 mm), compared to control (0.33 mm), whereas combination of Nitragina inoculant with micronutrient fertilization signifiantly increased root length density (1.05 cm·cm-3), compared to control (0.85 cm·cm-3). Additionally, the bacterial inoculant IUNG has signifiantly decreased the root length density in roots classes between 0.2–0.5 mm in the most humid year. The impact of inoculants on roots parameters was strongly related to weather conditions. In a dry year, a signifiant decrease of mean root diameter, specifi root length and increase of root dry mass were observed. Nitrogen accumulation in seeds signifiantly increased after gel inoculant application. A higher N content was proven in the fodder cultivar, but the edible cultivar was observed to accumulate more N in the seeds, which caused a Nitrogen Harvest index for this plant (80.0%).