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A method of inoculating wet and dry seeds with plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) using alginate microbeads as a substrate and Azospirillum brasilense as the model PGPB was developed. The microbeads were produced by low pressure spraying of an alginate solution mixed with liquid bacterial culture suspended in a very rich medium through a small nozzle resulting in small-diameter droplets. These droplets, when sprayed into a slowly stirred solution of CaCl₂, immediately hardened into microbeads at diameters ranging between 100 and 200 µm. Although the process killed part of the entrapped bacteria, the remaining bacteria residing in the microbeads were sufficient [>10¹¹ colony-forming units (CFU) g^–1 inoculant] for seed inoculation. Further, it was found that the bacterial population in the inoculant could be enhanced by secondary multiplication in the same medium for an additional 16 h. It …