EFFECT OF BIOFERTILIZERS ON GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF NURSERY TEA PLANTS
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Date
2017-12
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AAU, Jorhat
Abstract
A field experiment entitled “Effect of biofertilizers on growth and development of nursery tea plants” was carried out at the Experimental Garden for Plantation Crops, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat in the year 2016 to study the effect of biofertilizer enriched subsoil as a sleeve media on growth and development of nursery tea plants, nutrient availability in sleeve mixture and nutrient uptake pattern by plants. The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The treatments consisted of: T1 Control (Top soil + cowdung + SSP), T2 (Sub-soil + cowdung+ SSP), T3 (Sub-soil + cowdung + SSP + Microbial consortium), T4 (Sub-soil + cowdung + RP) and T5 (Sub-soil + cowdung + RP + Microbial consortium). The treatments were replicated four times. There were 25 plants in each replication and TV 23 was used as planting material. The microbial consortium was a combination of rhizobium, azotobacter, azospirillum and phosphate solubilizing bacteria. Experimental findings revealed thatbiofertilizer enriched sleeve mixture influenced the growth characters of tea plants in terms of plant height, number of leaves and collar girth. Treatment with sub-soil + cowdung + SSP + Microbial consortium (T3) recorded the highest values for all these growth characters. This treatment also resulted in higher shoot: root ratio as well as highest fresh and dry weight of shoots among all the treatments. On the other hand, the root volume, fresh and dry weight of roots were also found to be highest under the treatment with Sub-soil + cowdung + RP + microbial consortium (T5). The highest microbial population was also found under the treatment with sub-soil + cowdung + SSP + microbial consortium (T3) which also recorded the highest values in terms of available nitrogen and phosphorus in soil. However, the effect of biofertilizer enriched sleeve mixture on available potassium in soil was non-significant. In terms of bacterial and fungal population and microbial biomass carbon, T3 (sub-soil + cowdung + SSP + microbial consortium) recorded the highest values. T3 also resulted in highest NPK content in leaves.