The effect of inoculating indigenous cowpea nodule bacteria of Ethiopia on the crop performance was not tested under field condition with the ultimate goal of selecting effective inoculants. Root nodule bacteria which showed strong symbiotic effectiveness under greenhouse condition were selected for field experiment. Under field conditions, inoculation of cowpea with ECR-0+ECE-21 and ECR-101+ECE-21 resulted in a maximum grain yield (GY, 2713 kg ha-1) and above ground biomass (BW, 506 g m-2), respectively. The co-inoculation of cowpea with ECR-0 and ECE-21 and ECR-24 and ECE-21 significantly improved (p0.5; p
