Effect of biofertilizers and inorganic fertilizers on soil health, growth and yield of rice (Oryza sativa L.) crop
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Date
2016
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Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Abstract
A field experiment was carried out to study the effect of biofertilizers and inorganic fertilizers
on soil biological activities, physico-chemical properties, plant growth parameters and yield
of rice (Oryza sativa L.) crop. Significantly higher bacterial population (148 × 10⁶ CFU/g of
soil), fungal population (28 × 10³ CFU/g of soil), Azotobacter population (75 × 10³ CFU/g of
soil), PSB population (43 × 10³ CFU/g of soil), PGPR population (65 × 10⁴ CFU/g of soil),
Soil alkaline phosphates activity (13.93 µg pNP /g of soil/hr), Soil dehydrogenase activity
(2.53 µg TPF /g of soil/hr) and soil urease activity (397.16 µg urea /g of soil/hr) was observed
in the treatment having inorganic fertilizers + consortium biofertilizers whereas maximum
actinomycetes population (42 × 10⁴ CFU/g of soil) was observed in the treatment having
inorganic fertilizers alone. Statistically higher Azospirillum population (45 × 10³ CFU/g of
soil) was recorded in the treatment having Azospirillum as inoculum along with inorganic
fertilizers. Bacterial population was found to be positively correlated with soil dehydrogenase
and soil urease enzymes whereas PSB population showed positive correlation with soil
alkaline phosphatase enzyme activity at different time intervals. The maximum soil pH (7.18)
was recorded in treatment having inorganic fertilizers alone whereas, statistically higher
electrical conductivity (0.24 dS/m), organic carbon (0.35%), nitrogen (140.29 kg/ha),
phosphorus (25.39 kg/ha) and potassium (169 kg/ha) was observed in the treatment having
inorganic fertilizers and consortium biofertilizers. Significant positive correlation was
observed between bacterial population and Soil K (r = 0.932) whereas soil organic carbon was
related to Azospirillum population of soil (r= 0.486). The PSB population of soil showed
positive correlation (r= 0.862) with soil P while PGPR was found to be positively correlated
(r= 0.925) with soil N. Soil pH and EC showed positive correlation with soil actinomycetes
population. Significantly higher dry shoot (65.03g/pl) & root weight (12.13g/pl), plant height
(106.4cm), panicle length (26.2 cm), yield attributes like number of tillers (10/plant), number
of panicles (10/plant), number of grains (208/panicle), straw yield (79.68 q/ha) and grain yield
(65.42 q/ha) was observed in treatment having inorganic fertilizers + consortium
biofertilizers. The maximum NPK content in straw (0.69 % of N, 0.050 % of P, 1.80 % of K)
and NPK content in grain (1.49 % of N, 0.39 % of P, 0.75 % of K) was also observed in
treatment having inorganic fertilizers + consortium biofertilizers. So results concluded that
the combined application of inorganic fertilizers and biofertilizers improved the soil health
leading to enhanced growth and yield of rice crop.
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economics, biological phenomena, resins, productivity, technological changes, exhibitions, developmental stages, marketing, biological development, selection