Sadhu, A. C.Makwana, Naineshkumar Kantibhai2018-07-022018-07-022002http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810056196A field experiment was conducted at the College Agronomy Farm, B. A. College of Agriculture, Gujarat Agricultural University, Anand Campus, Anand during Rabi season of 2000-2001 to study the "RESPONSE OF INDIAN MUSTARD [BRASSICA JUNCEA (L.) CZERN &. COSS] TO BIOFERTILIZERS AND LEVELS OF NITROGEN AND SULPHUR". The soil of the experimental plot was loamy sand in texture having good drainage with 7.6 pH. The soil was low in organic matter, available nitrogen and sulphur, medium in available phosphorus and fairly rich in potassium. The experiment comprised three levels of biofertilizer (no inoculation, inoculation with Azotobacter, Chroococcum and inoculation with Azospirillum lipoferum), three levels of nitrogen (25, 50 and 75 kg N ha-1) and two levels of sulphur (0 and 30 kg S ha-1). The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design with three replications. Results revealed that plant population at harvest was not influenced by various treatments consisting levels of biofertilizer, nitrogen and sulpur. Growth characters like plant height, leaf area index and primary branches per plant showed significant improvement due to Azotobacter or Azospirillum inoculation. However, the number of secondary branches per plant were significantly the highest under Azotobacter inoculation treatment. The yield attributes viz., length of siliqua, number of seeds per siliqua, seed yield per plant as well as seed and stover yields were significantly increased by inoculation with Azotobacter or Azospirilium over control. However, the number of siliquae per plant was significantly increased by Azotobacter inoculation only. Perusal of these data indicated that maximum vegetative and reproductive growth as well as yield were achieved by inoculating the seeds with Azotobacter. Inoculation with Azotobactor or Azospirillum recorded significantly higher protein content (18.38 and 18.41 per cent, respectively) in seed, while oil content was remain unaffected due to biofertilizer inoculation treatments. Application of 50 and 75 kg N ha-1 had significantly increased the growth attributes viz. plant height, leaf area index and number of primary and secondary branches per plant as compared to 25 kg N ha-1. The yield attributes viz. number of siliquae per plant, seeds per siliqua. siliqua length and finally the seed yield of mustard were significantly influenced due to nitrogen levels. Application of 50 kg N ha-1 gave maximum number of siliquae per plant, seeds per siliqua, siliqua length and seed yield of mustard and it was significantly superior than control. However, test weight, seed yield per plant, stover yield and harvest index of mustard were not influenced significantly due to nitrogen levels. With increase in nitrogen levels, the oil content in seed was decreased, while protein content was increased linearly. The plant height, leaf area index and number of primary and secondary branches per plant were significantly increased by application of 30 kg S ha-1 Application of 30 kg S ha-1 gave significantly higher number of siliquae per plant, seeds per siliqua, siliqua length, seed yield per plant as well as seed yield of mustard as compared to no sulphur application. Test weight, stover yield and harvest index of mustard were not altered Significantly due to sulphur fertilization. Among the quality parameters, oil content in seed was significantly increased with 30 kg S ha-1 where as protein content was remain unaffected. From the foregoing results, it is pertinent that mustard gave the highest yield as well as net return when it was given a seed treatment with Azotobacter and fertilized with 50 kg nitrogen and 30 kg sulphur per hectare under middle Gujarat agroclimatic conditions.enAGRONOMY, AGRICULTUREA STUDYThesis