Influence of Inoculation Methods of Rhizobial Strains Having ACC-Deaminaze Activity on Growth and Yield of Rice Crop Under Salt-Affected Field

A field experiment was conducted at Soil Salinity Research Institute, Pindi Bhattian, experimental farm to evaluate different Rhizobial inoculation methods on growth and yield of rice (Oryza sativa) cv. Basmati-385 under natural salt-affected soil (pH= 8.55, ECe= 5.32 dSm-1 and SAR=25.46) during 2015-16. Seeds of rice were inoculated with four rhizobial strains (RPR-32, RPR-33, MW20 (PSB) and SBCC (M8) in three ways i.e. rice seeds inoculated for direct seeding and nursery and dipping seedling roots in the solutions of these rhizobial strains. Maximum tillering was observed with all strains under different inoculation methods. Although, the strains performed better as compared to control, however, dipping of nursery roots produced significantly higher yield followed by seed inoculation for direct seeding. Overall, among all the rhizobial strains, MW-20 (PSB) and SBCC (M8) produced comparable paddy yield. The highest paddy yield (291gm-2) was harvested with SBCC (M8) seed inoculation which was 19% more than that of un-inoculated (control).