This study was carried out to evaluate the response of yield and yield components of faba bean to indigenous rhizobial isolates in Welmera and Ejere Districts. The response of faba bean to five indigenous rhizobial isolates were assessed under field condition against the reference faba bean rhizobial inoculants as well 100 kg ha-1 DAP as positive control and uninoculated as negative control. In addition, 100 kg ha-1 NPS was also included in the treatments as satellite control. Significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher plant height, number of pod per plant, number of seed per pod, above ground biomass yield, straw yield and grain yield of faba bean were recorded through inoculation of rhizobial isolates in both experimental sites. The highest grain yields (3101.4 kg ha-1 and 2182.5 kg ha-1) were obtained from inoculation with rhizobial isolate FB-17 in Welmera and Ejere districts during 2014 and 2015 in respective order. In the same years, the second higher grain yields were obtained from inoculation of rhizobial isolates FB-9 (2943.5 kg ha-1) and FB-140 (2152.2 kg ha-1) in Welmera and Ejere Districts, respectively. However, the highest grain yield was obtained from the inoculation of rhizobial isolate FB-9 (3160.3 kg ha-1) in Welmera district during 2015. The over year grain yield (3123.2 kg ha-1) of faba bean depicted that the statistical superiority (p ≤ 0.05) of rhizobial isolate FB-17 in Welmera District. Hence, these rhizobial isolates are the best candidate for the development of commercial faba bean rhizobial inoculants in acid prone faba bean growing areas of Ethiopia after further verification over the farmers’ field at different agro-ecologies.
