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Open Access
Evalution of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria As potemtial Biofertilizer For Broccoli ( Brassica Oleracea L.)
(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Sharma, Kavia; Jupinder Kaur
The present study was carried out with the aim to develop a plant growth-promoting rhizobacterial inoculant for improving the growth and yield of broccoli. A total of 24 bacteria were isolated from rhizosphere of broccoli collected from the fields of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana and village Sangrur, Mansa, Barnala and Patiala. Biochemical characterization of these rhizobacterial isolates showed that most of these were oxidase, urease, indole, MR and catalase positive and were involved in starch hydrolysis and gelatin liquefaction whereas negative for citrate and VP test. These isolates were screened for multifarious plant growth-promoting traits viz. solubilization of phosphate and zinc, production of IAA, siderophore, ammonia, HCN and growth on nitrogen free medium. Out of 24 isolates, 17 isolates showed solubilization of phosphate on modified Pikovskaya agar with solubilization index ranging from 0.5-4.5 cm and 53.63-178.6 μg/ml in liquid medium. Eleven isolates showed solubilization of zinc oxide (solubilization index: 0.4-1.9 cm), five isolates showed solubilization of zinc carbonate (solubilization index: 0.3-1.2 cm) and zinc phosphate (solubilization index: 0.1-2.5 cm). Siderophore production was exhibited by fourteen isolates (0.3-1.4 cm). All the isolates were positive for auxin (without tryptophan: 2.04- 13.90 μg/ml; with tryptophan: 10.05-32.04 μg/ml) and ammonia production as well as ammonia excretion (1.803.65 μg/ml). The luxuriant growth on different nitrogen free medium was observed for all the isolates and higher HCN production was observed in three bacterial isolates. Out of these 24 isolates, two potential bacterial isolates RP4 and RP5 (which were named as CBF 2) were selected on the basis of PGP traits for evaluation of their potential to promote growth and yield of broccoli under pot as well as under field conditions. In green house experiment, these isolates when used synergistically showed a significant improvement in soil enzymatic activities (viz. dehydrogenase: 26.13 µg TPF formed h-1 g-1 of soil, alkaline phosphatase: 14.02 µg PNP formed h-1 g -1 of soil and urease: 370.80 µg urea hydrolysed formed h-1g -1 of soil) and plant growth parameters (plant height: 45.7 cm, root length: 6.3 cm, stem diameter: 3.9 cm, fresh weight of shoot :167.85 g, dry weight of shoot:35.70 g, number of leaves per plant: 26, days taken to visible curd:56 days, head compactness: 1.36 cm, number of heads/plant: 4 heads, mean head weight: 87 g and floret stalk length: 12.8 cm) over the control as well as other bioinoculants. The field evaluation of these bacterial isolates as consortium along with FYM and inorganic fertilizers was carried out using Palam samridhi variety of broccoli. The combined application of bacterial strains (RP4 and RP5) and FYM resulted in significantly higher soil microbial population and enzyme activities. Significantly higher available nitrogen (137.30 kg ha-1), available phosphorus (34.21 kg ha-1) and available potassium (170.15 kg ha-1) were also observed in treatment having FYM and bacterial inoculants (N75FYM+N25 + CBF 2). Significantly higher plant nutrient uptake of nitrogen (98.87 kg ha-1), phosphorus (24.84 kg ha-1), potassium (182.27 kg ha-1) was observed in (N75FYM+N25+ CBF 2) and higher uptake of micronutrients viz. zinc (75.5 mg/kg), iron (172.16 mg/kg) and manganese content (71.11 mg/kg) were found to be significantly higher in treatment (N100FYM+ CBF 2) having synergistic application of organic and bio-fertilizers. The various growth attributes of broccoli viz. plant height: 42.1 cm, root length: 11 cm, stem diameter: 4.9 cm, fresh weight of shoot: 214.20 g, dry weight of shoot:38.18 g, number of leaves per plant: 29, days taken to visible curd:44 days, head compactness: 1.11 cm, head yield: 153.15 q/acre, number of heads/plant: 6 heads, mean head weight: 88 g and floret stalk length: 12.8 cm was observed to be statistically higher in treatment T10 with combined application of FYM and bacterial isolates (N100FYM+ CBF 2). The study has led to the selection of a plant growth-promoting bacterial consortium as a potential bacterial inoculant for improving the growth, yield and nutrient content in broccoli.
Open Access
Development of functional food products utilizing purple wheat (Triticum aestivum) bran
(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Jhans, Bhupinder; Gurkirat Kaur
Functional foods are the natural ingredients, fortified, enriched or value-added products which have health beneficial effects beyond their basic nutrition owing to the presence of bioactive compounds. Purple wheat is one such ingredient containing anthocyanins and other polyphenols compartmentalized in the outer regions of the grain. The present study aimed at assessing the functionality of purple wheat bran in different functional foods including pasta, bread and kulfi. Bran was incorporated at 0, 5, 10 and 20 % each in pasta and bread while at 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 % in kulfi. Resultant products were investigated for compositional profile, functional properties, product quality parameters, tristimulus color profile, textural and structural properties. The results indicated that for pasta, enrichment with purple wheat bran caused significant reduction in minimum cooking time and firmness while due to the effect of fibre, water absorption, volume expansion, gruel solid losses were increased. These changes could be ascribed to higher fibre content interfering with protein matrix allowing accelerated movement of water. Molecular changes were also affected as found in FTIR and SEM analysis. Similarly in bread, purple wheat bran resulted in the dilution of the gluten networking affecting its strength, thus higher levels of bran influenced the loaf volume, height, texture, and other internal and external parameters. In case of kulfi, fibre showed binding ability; however, at 8 % level of bran, the texture was found to be grainy which is not a highly desirable property. All the products exhibited linear increment in the total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, total anthocyanin content and DPPH· radical scavenging activity. On the basis of organoleptic evaluation, pasta and bread enriched up to 15 % and kulfi up to 6 % purple wheat bran were most acceptable and exposed to storage studies. After assessing the biochemical indices of storage and overall acceptability, it was found that pasta was stable for 4 months, bread for 8 days and kulfi for 4 months of storage.
Open Access
Evaluation of some new chemical and organic amendments in rice-wheat system under sodic water irrigation
(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Harjot Kaur; O.P. Choudhary
Persistent and continuous use of sodic water for irrigation in south-western regions of Punjab has led to the development of sodicity in soils which severely impacts the physical, chemical and biological properties. The deteriorated soil health proves futile to plant growth causing yield losses and lower farm income. The problems caused by the irrigation-induced sodicity can be rectified by the amelioration of the soils using amendments. Gypsum has been popular among farmers as a source to ameliorate sodic water irrigated soils but the issue with its availability and quality has propelled the scientific community to explore the potential of some others resources such as yellow gypsum, a by-product of steel industry which can help sustain growth in sodic soil environment. Organic amendments such as farm yard manure (FYM) has been studied extensively while others like rice straw compost, rice straw (RS) and biochar (BC) are presently getting attention in terms of their utility in restoring sodic soils. A pot experiment was conducted to collate the effect of application of inorganic (yellow; YG and grey gypsum; GG) and organic amendments (FYM, rice straw compost, RS and BC) on properties of soils (loamy sand; ls and sandy clay loam; scl) irrigated with sodic water and biomass yield of crops. Soils were irrigated with different levels of RSC of irrigation water i.e. RSC 0, 5, 7.5 and 10 meq L-1 . Organic amendments, FYM @ 15 t ha-1 , Rice straw compost @ 6 t ha-1 , RS 6 t ha-1 and BC @ 4 t ha-1 were applied once before sowing of wheat whereas gypsum (both types) @ 50%GR was applied on soil basis and later with each irrigation to neutralize sodicity of water. Individual effect of these amendments was studied through 56 treatment combinations in completely randomized design replicated three times. Results revealed decrease in biomass yield, photosynthetic activity, stomatal conductance and uptake of Ca, Mg and K on irrigation with sodic water in wheat and rice crop whereas uptake of Na and proline content increased. With regard to soil properties, irrigation with sodic water increased pH, sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) (higher in scl), exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) (higher in ls), and bulk density (BD) but decreased microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and mean weight diameter (MWD). Upon application of gypsum (both types), decrease in pH, SAR and ESP was observed along with significant improvement in biomass yield and other soil properties such as MBC and MWD. Among the organic amendments, BC reduced uptake of Na whereas rice straw compost and FYM gave promising results in restoration of soil properties and biomass yield in both the crops. Further, field studies need to be conducted to evaluate the restorative effect of yellow gypsum vis-à-vis grey (mined) gypsum and it combined application along with the organic amendments in soils receiving sodic water irrigation.
Open Access
Quantification of evapotranspiration using EEFLUX tool and comparison by empirical methods in maize (Zea mays L.)
(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Deepan R; Som Pal Singh
Evapotranspiration (ET) is one of the most important parameter in agriculture and to water management and irrigation requirement. Under the present scenario of Climate change and Global warming, importance of ET measurement and its validation assumes a great significance. There are various techniques used to estimate actual measurement of ET in the field condition. However, researchers have developed state of the art instrument to measure it in the field condition and instruments of varying accuracy are available. The instrument can measure point value of ET for being placed at particular location in the field and therefore the spatial accuracy of the data is bound to reduce to a certain extent. On the other hand, the empirical estimation of ET has its own limitation owing to the requirement of huge data set to estimate the ET to near accuracy. Google EEFlux is a web-based tool which utilizes the satellite-based information to provide the ET rate on spatio-temporal scale. Therefore, an effort has been put forth to estimate ET using the Google EEFlux for maize crop. The ET has been estimated using the Google EEFlux for maize crop sown in the field experiment at the Research Farm, Department of Climate Change and Agricultural Meteorology, PAU during the kharif season of 2020-21. The ET was also computed using Penman’s equation geeSEBAL, NRSC-NHP, Cropwat 8.0 and FAO Ref-ET calculator for PMH-1 and PMH-2 varieties of maize during the same period grown under three sowing environments. The relationships were developed between ET (Google EEFlux), ET (geeSEBAL), ET(NRSCNHP) and ET (FAO-ETo calculator). The relationships indicated a significant association between the ET obtained by both these methods. The data generated can help the researchers to fine tune treatments and also to reorient the irrigation and management research programs.
Embargo
Estimation of irrigation water requirement of wheat in rice-wheat system in Ludhiana district of Punjab using geo-spatial technologies
(Punjab Agricultural University, 2022) Vullaganti, Niharika; Vashisht, B.B.
One of the major global concerns is increasing population. With increase in the population, a proportional increase in food and water requirements is seen. To meet the increasing food requirements, the crop productivity should be increased with the limited resources available. Recent studies stated that there is a notable amount of water being lost in the form of excessive irrigation and ground water depletion. To tackle these problems and conserve water, improving water use efficiency is one of the best ways. Irrigation scheduling can play a crucial role in reducing wastage of water in agriculture. To schedule irrigation, evapotranspiration need to be estimated. This study aims to estimate evapotranspiration of wheat crop in Ludhiana district using geo spatial technologies. Evapotranspiration (ET) of the crop was estimated using satellite and meteorological data. Reference evapotranspiration was estimated with ETo calculator using climatic parameters like mean temperature, rainfall, relative humidity and wind speed as inputs to calculate reference evapotranspiration. Monthly evapotranspiration data obtained from satellite data was represented in ET maps generated using ArcGIS. The monthly ET maps were combined to form a seasonal evapotranspiration map. ET increased with the vegetative growth from November to February and decreased as the crop reached its maturity during March and April. Various factors like climatic parameters, crop and soil characteristics effect the evapotranspiration. Crop coefficient was estimated to represent the crop characteristics at a particular area at a particular period of time. It was calculated as the ratio of crop evapotranspiration and reference evapotranspiration. Crop coefficient were low during initial growth stages, increased during mid season and again decreased during later stages of crop growth. Irrigation water requirement of the crop was estimated by deducting the effective rainfall from evapotranspiration. Mapping of the crop coefficient, evapotranspiration and irrigation water requirement enabled to represent their spatial and temporal variation within the study area. This would help the farmers to easily identify the water requirement of the crop in their localities and irrigate the crop accordingly.
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Development and validation of kaspmarkers for heat stress tolerance QTLs in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Ranjeet Singh; Dhaliwal, Inderpreet
A panel of 24 wheat genotypes, comprising 19 heat tolerant, 3 heat susceptible and 2 parental lines were evaluated under timely and late sown conditions during rabi 2020 in a Randomized block design with an aim to develop and validate a KASP assay for heat stress tolerance. Eleven major reproductive traits, including grain yield, plant height and days to maturity were evaluated. In general, there was a reduction in grain yield under late sown compared to timely sown conditions. This trait was highly variable among the 24 genotypes as some of them (KSG1188, KSG089, KSG849, KSG1189 and KSG1195) exhibited very low reduction in yield, indicating a tolerance to heat stress for maintaining the desired yield levels. Similar behavior was observed for other plant traits also, viz, days to heading, days to maturity, mean grain weight per main spike, spikelet fertility and tiller number per meter square. There were also some genotypes that displayed increased height and biomass under late sown conditions, which is rare for a heat stressed crop. The stability in performance of the genotypes may be attributed to heat stress tolerance under late sown conditions. Since the QTL for stress tolerance were already described in an earlier study, the identified GBS-SNPs were converted to 4 KASP primers following standard procedures to run the KASP assay on this panel. Of these four primers, 2 were successful in allele calling, thereby giving an efficiency of 50%. Hence, converting these identified GBS-SNPs into KASP assays can successfully be used to differentiate the genotypes or populations for heat stress related QTL.
Open Access
Effect of agronomic manipulations on crop productivity and weed dynamics in poplar (Populus deltoides Bartr.) based agroforestry system
(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Parija, Bhadra; Navneet Kaur
Present study entitled “Effect of agronomic manipulations on crop productivity and weed dynamics in poplar (Populus deltoides Bartr.) based agroforestry system” was carried out at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana and KVK, Roopnagar (Experiment I) during 2017- 18 and 2018-19. Experiment I consisted of crop establishment methods of wheat viz. two methods of sowing (line sowing and broadcasting) and two seed rates (100 kg/ha and 125 kg/ha) along with five weed control treatments viz. carfentrazone 20 g/ha, pinoxaden 50 g/ha, clodinafop+metribuzin 270 g/ha, weed free check and weedy check in factorial RBD with 3 replications. The age of the poplar tree was 4 years in Ludhiana with 12.4 m height and 15.8 cm diameter at breast height (dbh) while at Roopnagar the age of the plantation was 3 years with an average 9.3 m height and 12.1 cm dbh during 2018-19. Experiment II consisted of planting geometry viz. two poplar spacings (8m×2.5m and 7m×3m, paired at 2.5m) and two potato planting geometry (65cm×18.5cm and 75cm×15cm) in main plots and weed control treatments (atrazine 0.250 kg/ha, metribuzin 0.350 kg/ha, paraquat 0.300 kg/ha, clodinafop+metribuzin 0.270 kg/ha, weed free check and weedy check) in sub-plots with three replications in split-plot design. The age of the poplar here was 6 years old with 19.6 m height and 26.5 cm DBH during 2018-19. The results of experiment I revealed that line sown wheat (38.0-42.8 q/ha) with higher seed rate of 125 kg/ha (37.3-41.5 q/ha) under weed free check (40.2-45.4 q/ha) had higher yield advantages with a greater number of effective tillers, spike length, grains/ear and 1000-grain weight in comparison to broadcasted with lower seed rate wheat crop under the rest weed control treatments and it was statistically at par with clodinafop+metribuzin 270 g/ha (36.5-41.3 q/ha) applied treatments. The application of clodinafop+metribuzin 270 g/ha effectively reduced the weed count and biomass. In experiment II, poplar spacing of 8m×2.5m (263.5-272.0 q/ha) and potato planting geometry of 75cm×15cm (256.6-262.1 q/ha) recorded significantly higher potato tuber yield. Among the weed control treatments weed free check (294.9-302.9 q/ha) was at par with clodinafop+metribuzin 0.270 kg/ha (289.4-293.2 q/ha) in terms of potato tuber no., weight/hill and yield. These treatments have exhibited a higher weed smothering effect thereby subsequently reduced the weed seed bank and seed recruitment in both the experiments. All the herbicides used in both the experiments temporarily reduced the microbial population and their activity upto 90 days of application and then it recovered till harvesting of the intercrops.
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Characterization of groundwater quality for irrigation in different blocks of district Bathinda
(Punjab Agricultural University, 2022) Kirandeep Kaur; Sekhon, K. S.
This study was conducted to characterize the groundwater quality of Bathinda district of Punjab, India for irrigation purpose. A total of 367 water samples were collected from the running tubewells from the seven blocks viz. Bhagta Bhai Ka, Phul, Nathana, Rampura, Goniana, Maur and Bathinda out of nine blocks of district Bathinda in June-July 2021. The geo-tagged groundwater samples were analysed for pH, EC, major ions and As. Based on these parameters, various water quality indices like sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), residual sodium carbonate (RSC), %Na, magnesium adsorption ratio (MAR), Kelly’s ratio (KR), CAI1, CAI2, total hardness (TH), total dissolved solids (TDS), r1, r2, corrosivity ratio (CR) and permeability index (PI) were also calculated. According to PAU classification of EC and RSC, in overall Bathinda district (based on seven blocks) as per EC, 58.3%, 37.1% and 4.6% of groundwater samples belong to fit, marginal and unfit category, respectively and as per RSC, 74.1%, 17.2% and 8.7% of samples belong to fit, marginal and unfit category, respectively. On the basis both EC and RSC together as per PAU classification 42.2%, 45.3% and 12.5% of samples are grouped under fit, marginal and unfit category, respectively for irrigation purpose in Bathinda district. Based on USSL (1954) classification, 4.1%, 60.8% and 34.6% of samples fall under C2, C3 and C4 category of EC; and 55.9%, 15.8%, and 28.3% of samples belong to fit, marginal and unfit category of RSC, respectively. In Wilcox diagram, most of the analysed samples fall under permissible to doubtful category and doubtful to unsuitable category and in USSL diagram, maximum groundwater samples fall under C3S2 and C4S3 category. The analysis's findings revealed that the groundwater samples fall in rock dominance and evaporation zone as indicated by Gibbs diagram, Piper diagram shows that the maximum samples of the area fall in Na-Cl type of groundwater category, whereas, as per scatter diagrams, silicate weathering and direct ion exchange process was dominant in the area. The irrigation water quality maps based on USSL classification of EC, RSC, SAR and both EC and RSC together were prepared for seven blocks of district Bathinda with the help of GIS techniques. This study thus concludes that as the groundwater of studied area was varying in water quality, therefore periodic monitoring is required to assess the water quality for its long-term use in agricultural production.
Embargo
Effect of container type and growing media on growth and nutrients uptake in Dalbergia sissoo Roxb. seedlings
(Punjab Agricultural University, 2022) Ramandeep Kaur; Garg, Rakesh K.
The present study was conducted in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources during the year 2020-21. The study comprised of two nursery experiments established in factorial complete randomized design with three replications. The first experiment comprised of fifteen treatment combinations of five container types (plastic bottles, clay pots, plastic pots, polypropylene bags and polythene bags) and three container size (500 cm³, 1000 cm³ and 2000 cm³). Second experiment comprised of twenty one treatment combinations of three soil textures (sandy loam, loamy sand and clay loam) and seven amendments (pure soil, soil: FYM 1:1, soil: FYM 2:1, soil: bio digester slurry 1:1, soil: bio digester slurry 2:1, soil: rice husk ash 1:1 and soil: rice husk ash 2:1). Seedlings raised in large size polypropylene bags attained maximum plant height (143.27cm), collar diameter (10.53mm), number of branches (24.33), number of leaves (50.33), root length (93.90cm), number of roots (34), number of nodules (22), biomass production and nutrient (N, P and K) uptake. The reusable containers viz plastic bottles, plastic pots and clay pots can be used for producing plants to reduce dependency on single-use polythene bags in nurseries. The seedlings produced in mixture of sandy loam and bio digester slurry (2:1) resulted in maximum root length (160.33 cm), number of nodules (25.33), number of leaves (46.33), biomass production and nutrients uptake at nine months of age. Seedlings raised in sandy loam:bio digester slurry (2:1) had statistically at par plant height with sandy loam:bio digester slurry (1:1) and loamy sand:bio digester slurry (2:1) at nine months of age.

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