Effect of biofertilizers and phosphorus levels on growth, yield and nodulation of black gram (Vigna mungo)

Abstract

Pulses plays a very important role in deciding economy of Moradabad region as a number of pulses are grown by farmers in this region. The major issue that farmers faces is low productivity and major reason behind that is low nutrient status and lack of beneficial microorganisms in the soil. Application of balanced nutrition primarily phosphorus in leguminous crops plays a key role in root development and nodule formation which ultimately reduces the dependence on nitrogen fertilizers through atmospheric nitrogen fixation. To evaluate this further, a field experiment was conducted during Kharif season of 2019 at Agricultural Farm of IFTM University, Moradabad, to study the effect of levels of phosphorus and biofertilizers viz., Rhizobium and PSB on growth and yield of black gram which is an important pulse crop in Moradabad region. The experiment consisted of seven treatments with NPK fertilizer @ 20:40:40 kg/ha (or) 20:40:60 kg/ha with and without seed inoculation with Rhizobium or Phosphorus solubilizing bacteria (PSB) or in combination. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design replicated thrice. Black gram variety ‘Azaad-2’ was sown at a spacing of 30 × 15 cm on a sandy loam soil which was low in organic carbon (0.39 %), available nitrogen (87.75 kg/ha) and available phosphorus (13.5 kg/ha) and medium in available potassium content (198 kg/ha). The experimental results indicated that, application of NPK @ 20:60:40 kg/ha + Seed inoculation with Rhizobium + PSB resulted in highest values of all the growth parameters such as plant height, number of primary branches, number of leaves and number of root nodules at different growth stages. This treatment has also reported an increase in grain yield by 39.90% and 33.55 % respectively over control (no fertilizer) and conventional practices (NPK @ 20:40:40, which clearly indicates the suitability in obtaining maximum yield and fetching higher returns for the black gram farmers in Moradabad region.