A bacterial formula with native strains as alternative to chemical fertiliser for tomato crop

Abstract Worldwide productivity of tomato is threatened by biotic and abiotic stress factors. To sustain and guarantee an adequate yield of tomato crops, agricultural practices have been based on the intensive use of fertilisers with negative impacts on the environment. An eco-friendly and sustainable alternative to the traditional cultivation methods is the bioaugmentation approach, using tailor-made microbial consortia. Eight indigenous strains, isolated from the soil of “Terra-Sole” farm in the coastal plain of Pula (Sardinia - Italy), were selected in the laboratory for their plant growth promoting (PGP) functions. The beneficial effects of the bacterial formula, including genera Delftia, Pseudomonas, Paenarthrobacter, Phyllobacterium, Bacillus, and Acinetobacter, were tested in three subsequent field trials carried out at the company greenhouse, with different tomato varieties (Camone, Oblungo, Cherry). The results indicate that the inoculation of the indigenous bacterial formula repeated at the different stages of plant growth, regardless of the tomato variety, represents an effective strategy to obtain a fruit yield comparable to that obtained with chemical fertilisers. The application of proper biofertilisation could thus substitute the use of expensive and polluting chemicals without compromising the tomato yield.