GROWTH PROMOTING MICROORGANISMS ON YIELD AND QUALITY OF PECAN GROWN IN THE YAQUI VALLEY, SONORA, MEXICO

Abstract

Pecan (Carya illinoinensis Koch) is a highly profitable horticultural species, which is why the area dedicated to this fruit tree has increased in Mexico. Among the new methods used to improve crops there is the incorporation of organisms selected for their benefits in plant metabolism, applied to the host plant system as biological products. Among these biological products are plant growth promoting microorganisms. With the hypothesis that at least one of these biological products would favor pecan crop and yield, the objective of this study was to analyze the effect of the application of growth promoting microorganisms to improve pecan productivity and quality. The application was carried out during three cycles since 2017 to 2019; Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Pseudomona fluorescens and Trichoderma harzianum were used, at a concentration of 10⁸ UFC mL^-1 m^-2. The experimental design was complete randomized blocks, with two treatments; ANOVA was used for data comparison. A microbiological count was performed in the soil, and pecan yield and quality were evaluated. The microbiological count resulted in 10⁵ to 10⁷ populations in the inoculated soil. The treatments showed significant differences (p≤0.05) and increased pecan productivity by 27.7% when using the microbial consortium in the 2019 cycle, and better pecan quality was obtained during the three consecutive cycles.