Plant growth promoting microbial consortia for enhancing growth and yield attributes of Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.)

Abstract

Combinations of plant growth promoting microorganisms were evaluated under pot culture to test their ability to enhance growth and yield attributes of Brinjal during rabi 2020 at the Department of Vegetable Science, College of Horticulture, Bagalkot, (UHS, Bagalkot), Karnataka, India. The pot experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with sixteen treatments and three replications. The experiment results showed that combination of VAM + Azotobacter + Trichoderma harzianum to be the best PGPR consortia for enhancing the growth and yield attributes of brinjal followed by VAM+PSB. The treatment combination containing VAM + Azotobacter + Trichoderma harzianum showed the maximum plant height (22.56, 46.16 and 62.76 cm), highest number of branches per plant (4.00, 10.66 and 13.33), more number of leaves per plant (61.33, 102.33 and 126.33) at 30, 60 and 90 days after transplanting respectively and the treatment also recorded maximum root length (59.86 cm) and fruit yield per plant (615.93 g/plant), shoot fresh and dry weight (268.70 g and 54.20 g respectively), root fresh and dry weight (237.43 g and 55.36 g), nutrients in soil (495.00: 66.73: 402.80 NPK kg/ha.) and nutrient uptake of brinjal plant (461.66: 196.66: 523.33 NPK kg/ha) at 90 days after transplanting.