META-ANALYSIS OF BIO-FERTILIZER POTENTIALS OF BACILLUS SPECIES IN ENHANCING GROWTH PARAMETERS OF TOMATO (SOLANUM LYCOPERSICUM L.)

Abstract

There is an increasing body of knowledge on the use of Bacillus spp., a pervasive microorganism to enhance plant growth and development.However, there is scanty information on metaanalysis of bio-fertilizer potential of Bacillus spp. on selected growth parameters in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.).Hence, this study aimed to use a meta-analysis procedure to determine the effect of Bacillus spp. on the following growth parameters in tomato: plant height, shoot fresh weight and shoot dry weight, root length, root fresh weight, root dry weight, and number of leaves per plant.A systematic search conducted in AGORA, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Pubmed, Elicit.comdatabases yielded 398 articles of which 51 articles were used for the meta-analysis.Randomeffect model (REM) was used to generate the pooled effects estimated at a 95% confidence interval.All the analyses were performed using OpenMEE software.The results showed that Bacillus spp.enhanced plant height, shoot fresh weight, and shoot dry weight, root length, root fresh weight, root dry weight and number of leaves per plant.Restricted subgroup analysis showed that studied moderators (Bacillus strain, B-count, Dosage of bacteria, Mode of application, Days after planting (DAP), Temperature and Duration) influenced the result of the meta-analysis.There was evidence of significant heterogeneity and metaregression analysis showed that the studied moderators explained most of the sources of heterogeneity.These results demonstrated the bio-fertilizer potential of Bacillus spp. in enhancing the physiological growth parameters of tomato.The present meta-analysis also sets the steps for future standardized experimental designs on the use of Bacillus spp. to enhance growth parameters of tomato.