Response of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) varieties to seed endophytic treatment for drought tolerance

Abstract

A field experiment to investigate the "Response of seed endophytic bacterial inoculation on various genotypes of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) under deficit irrigation conditions" was conducted at the Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS), Palem during the rabi season of 2022–2023. Experiment was comprised of 15 treatment combinations consisting of 3 main treatments and 5 sub treatments laid in a split plot design with three replications. Main treatment containing 3 varieties viz., V1:K-6, V2: TAG-24 and V3: Visishta and sub treatment included 5 irrigation schedules i.e., I1: irrigation at 10 days, I2: irrigation at 10 days interval with Seed treatment with consortium of endophytic bacteria, V3: irrigation at 15 days interval, V4: irrigation at 15 days interval with Seed treatment with consortium of endophytic bacteria and V5: IW: CPE ratio at 0.8. The investigation's findings revealed that the variety Visishta had a noticeably greater pod yield ((2805 kg ha-1) over other varieties, kernel yield (1729 kg ha-1) and haulm yield (5348 kg ha-1) over TAG-24 and was on par with K-6. Among irrigation schedules, irrigation at 10 days interval with seed treatment with consortium of endophytic bacteria was recorded significantly higher pod yield (2785 kg ha-1) and haulm yield (5323 kg ha-1) over irrigation at 15 days interval but was on par with rest of the treatments.