## 3 Results and Discussion  
The inoculation of the BC caused a significant increase (\(p<0.05\)) in plant height on treatments of 0 and 240 kg N ha\({}^{-1}\) vs. the uninoculated ones at the same N rate (Supplementary Table S2). Plant height was positively impacted by the inoculation of the bacterial consortium, as well as by the reduction in N fertilization to 0 kg N ha\({}^{-1}\) (Table 3). Similarly, a remarkable tendency of higher values of root depth in all the inoculated treatments vs. uninoculated was observed (from 12.1 cm more) (Table 3). These positive outcomes could be due to the previously observed positive effects of the studied BC, for example, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) biosynthesis, which is involved in several physiological processes, such as cell elongation and division, tissue differentiation, germination stimulation, influences root development, photosynthesis, pigment formation, biosynthesis of metabolites, and resistance to stress conditions [24]. In addition, strains contained in the studied BC can solubilize phosphate into a more accessible form to be absorbed by wheat plants. Phosphorus, as a macronutrient for crops, is the second most important mineral, an elemental component of nucleic acids, nucleotides, phospholipids enzymes, and coenzymes. Thus, it is involved in numerous physiological and biochemical reactions, such as photosynthesis, root and stem development, formation of flowers and seeds, crop maturation, and resistance to some diseases [25,26]. Furthermore, [PERSON] et al. (2019) [16] demonstrated significant increments in shoot height (26%), root length (36%), shoot dry weight (100%), stem diameter (53%), and biovolume index (146%) when strain TRQ65 was inoculated in wheat (vs. uninoculated wheat plants). Also, _P. megaterium_ TRQ8, _B. cabrialesii_ subsp. _cabrialesii_ TES\({}^{\mathrm{T}}\), and _B. paralicheniformis_ TRQ65 share more than 50% of biofertilization-related genes associated with CO\({}_{2}\) fixation, N and Fe acquisition, phosphate and K solubilization, and P assimilation, as well as genes related to the production of siderophores and stress response [5]. The number of spikes per square meter in all inoculated treatments resulted in optimal values for high wheat yield (200-300 spikes m\({}^{-2}\)), without significant differences among them (Supplementary Table S2) [27]. However, a significant and positive effect of the inoculation of the BC was observed in this study (25 more spikes per square meter) compared to the uninoculated ones (Table 3); for example, a significant increase (\(p<0.05\)) of 16.7% in spikes m\({}^{-2}\) was observed in the 120 kg N ha\({}^{-1}\) treatment when the CB was inoculated (Supplementary Table S2). Also, not applying N fertilization caused a positive impact on this trait, compared to 120 and 240 kg N ha\({}^{-1}\) applied (Table 3). In the case of grains per spike, this parameter increased with the highest doses of N applied (55 grains per spike, vs. 51 and 52, Table 3). In this sense, [PERSON] et al. (2022) [28] reported that the individual inoculation of seven _Bacillus_ strains on wheat in Turkey, compared to an uninoculated control, the inoculation led to an increase in biometric traits; however, the inoculation of the _Bacillus_ strains did not show significant increments in the number of grains per spike, suggesting that the positive effect of the inoculation of these strain on wheat yield could be through regulating several physiological traits.