## 4 Conclusions  
Bacterial inoculants based on PGPB represent a sustainable alternative to increase crop productivity and diminish the dependence on synthetic inputs, such as nitrogen fertilizers. However, their effectiveness depends not only on the target crop and the microbial inoculant characteristics but also on soil and environmental conditions, as well as management practices. In this regard, the inoculation of wheat with the bacterial consortium used in this study (_Bacillus cabrialesti_ subsp. _cabrialesti_ TES\({}^{\text{T}}\), _Priestia megaterium_ TRQ8, and _Bacillus paralicheniformis_ TRQ65) had positive effects on the early growth stages, plant height, root depth, and spikes per square meter parameters (when the plants are fertilized at sowing with a fraction of 30% of the total N). However, no increases in grain yield due to the inoculation of the BC were observed when fertilization was reduced completely or by half (0 or 120 kg N ha\({}^{-1}\); as already observed in other crop cycles and studies conducted by our research group). This was probably due to the high residual N soil content (183 kg N ha\({}^{-1}\)) along with the fractionation of N fertilization by 30%, 60%. and 10% (in sowing, stem elongation, and booting), due to the high N input when fertilized with 60% at stem elongation. Furthermore, the BC had no significant effect on the studied quality parameters, which were more stable and influenced by different N doses. Nevertheless, the inoculation of the bacterial consortium on wheat caused more N acquisition from both sources: soil and fertilizer, at different N fertilization rates and growth stages. Fertilization had a significant effect on nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE) of the whole plant: 120 kg of N ha\({}^{-1}\) was more efficient (NUE: 44.32%) than the full fertilization dose (NUE: 27.51%). Consequently, significantly greater losses of N from the soil-plant system are observed when wheat was fully fertilized (240 kg N ha\({}^{-1}\), 65.85%) compared to fertilization with half the recommended N rate with the BC inoculation (120 kg N ha\({}^{-1}\) + BC, 47.22%). Overall, when incorporating the studied bacterial inoculant into wheat crops, it is essential to use appropriate agricultural practices, including N management of no more than 225 kg N ha\({}^{-1}\) (from both soil and fertilizer) and opt for a nitrogen fertilizer fractionation of 33%, 33%, and 33%. This short-term experiment lays the groundwork for developing more comprehensive and long-term studies that will elucidate effective management practices compatible with bacterial consortium inoculation, ultimately contributing to sustainable agriculture. The following supporting information can be downloaded at: [[https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app15031429/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app15031429/s1)]([https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app15031429/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app15031429/s1)), Supplementary Table S1. Additional climatic conditions during the crop cycle; Supplementary Table S2. Wheat quantitative traits of yield and harvest indexes; Supplementary Table S3. Wheat quality traits of the studied treatments; Supplementary Table S4. Nitrogen (\({}^{15}\)N) uses the efficiency of wheat under two different doses of urea and the inoculation of a native bacterial consortium. Investigation, formal analysis, data curation, writing--original draft preparation, visualization, M.A.-Z. ; methodology, conceptualization, writing--review and editing, all authors; resources, S.d.I.S.-V. and M.I.I. ; funding acquisition, conceptualization, supervision, project administration, validation, S.d.I.S.-V. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. This research was supported by the Joint FAO/IAEA through the Regional Latin America Project RLA5077 \"Enhancing Livedhood through Improving Water Use Efficiency Associated with Adaptation Strategies and Climate Change Mitigation in Agriculture (ARCAL CLVIII)\". Not applicable.