The Contribution of Azospirillum brasilense and Vermicompost to Improving Plant Growth Characteristics, Yield Variables, Physical Characteristics and Maintaining Sustainable Agriculture in Custard Apple cv. “Balanagar”

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to determine the contribution of Azospirillum brasilense and vermicompost to improving plant growth characteristics, yield variables, physical characteristics and maintaining sustainable agriculture in custard apple cultivar “Balanagar” during 2018–19 and 2019–20 at the Fruit Instructional Farm, Department of Fruit Science, College of Horticulture and Forestry, Jhalawar, India. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design (RBD) with 16 Azospirillum brasilense and vermicompost treatments. During the first weeks of July 2018 and July 2019, the 16 various Azospirillum and vermicompost treatment combinations were administered to the soil canopy and rhizosphere of black vertisols in custard apple cultivar (cv.) “Balanagar” plants. Among the various treatments, the treatment T₁₀, which consisted of (Azospirillum (AZS) @ 50 g + Vermicompost (V.C.) @ 10 kg/plant) was found to be significantly superior to all other treatment combinations in terms of promoting plant height (3.46 m), plant spread E–W (2.45 m), plant spread N–S (2.40 m), number of leaves/shoot (19.83), chlorophyll content (2.32 mg/g), number of female flowers/branch (197.50), fruit set (47.08%), number of fruits/plant (92.83), yield/plant (18.60 kg), yield/ha (74.39 q), fruit weight (199.77 g), pulp weight (99.21 g), pulp (49.69%), pulp texture (creamy), horizontal fruit diameter (87.65 mm) and vertical fruit diameter (92.59 mm), the majority of plant growth characteristics, including yield variables and physical characteristics of custard apple cultivar “Balanagar”.