ASHOKA RANI, YSURESH, A2018-05-072018-05-072016http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810044743D5260A field experiment was carried out at Agricultural College Farm, Bapatla in sandy clay loam soil during Rabi 2014-15, to study the “Physiological effects of seed treatment with bioinoculants on seedling vigour, growth and yield of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)”. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with eleven treatments viz., seed treatment with VAM @ 100 g kg-1 seed (T1), PSB @ 6 g kg-1 seed (T2), Mesorhizobium ciceri @ 6 g kg-1 seed (T3), Trichoderma viridae @ 10 g kg-1 seed (T4), VAM @ 100 g + PSB @ 6 g kg-1 seed (T5), VAM @ 100 g + M. ciceri @ 6 g kg-1 seed (T6), VAM @ 100 g + T. viridae @ 10 g kg-1 seed (T7), PSB @ 6 g + M. ciceri @ 6 g kg-1 seed (T8), PSB @ 6 g + T. viridae @ 10 g kg-1 seed (T9), M. ciceri @ 6 g + T. viridae @ 10 g kg-1 seed (T10) and uninoculated control (T11) in three replications. PSB + M. ciceri, M. ciceri + T. viridae, VAM + M. ciceri, VAM + T. viridae and PSB + T. viridae inoculations significantly increased the seedling emergence by 16.0, 14.3, 12.7, 10.4 and 9.5 per cent, respectively over control. Single inoculations increased the shoot length of seedlings by 1.16 to 1.24 folds and dual inoculations by 1.3 to 1.6 folds higher than control and the highest performance was exhibited by PSB + M. ciceri followed by M. ciceri + T. viridae and VAM + M. ciceri. Seedling vigour index increased by 1.5 to 1.8 and 1.1 to 1.3 folds higher than no inoculation with dual and single inoculations, respectively, and it was found high with PSB + M. ciceri (3267.7) followed by M. ciceri + T. viridae and VAM + M. ciceri. Compared to control, the increase in root length was 6.1, 5.2, 5.1, 4.3, 2.2 and 2.1 cm with PSB + M. ciceri, PSB + T. viridae, VAM + M. ciceri, M. ciceri + T. viridae, VAM + PSB and M. ciceri, respectively. 7.9 to 10.2 cm and 6.2 to 6.9 cm increase in plant height was obtained with dual and single inoculations, respectively over control. The increase in number of branches was 2.7, 2.4, 2.3, 2.2 and 1.7 with PSB + M. ciceri, VAM + M. ciceri, M. ciceri, M. ciceri + T. viridae and VAM + T. viridae, respectively. Effective branches were 43.9, 38.6, 36.8,33.3 and 28.0% high with PSB + M. ciceri followed by VAM + M. ciceri, M. ciceri + T. viridae, M. ciceri and VAM + T. viridae, respectively over control. Leaf number increased by 38.1, 34.0, 30.7, 26.8, 25.8 and 24.5 % with PSB + M. ciceri, VAM + M. ciceri, M. ciceri + T. viridae, PSB + T. viridae, VAM + T. viridae and VAM + PSB respectively. Dual inoculations increased the leaf area by 1.2 to 1.3 folds higher than control, and maximum was obtained with PSB + M. ciceri. VAM and M. ciceri single inoculations increased the leaf area by 1.1 to 1.2 folds and stood on par with dual inoculations. Nodule number increased by 4-9 plant-1, maximum increase was found in PSB + M. ciceri followed by VAM + M. ciceri and M. ciceri. Weight of nodules increased by 13.0 to 50.0 and 13.0 to 23.0 mg plant-1 with dual and single inoculations respectively, the maximum increase was obtained with PSB + M. ciceri in dual and M. ciceri in single inoculations. Leaf dry matter increased by 40.4 to 78.7 % with dual inoculations showing the highest in PSB + M. ciceri followed by VAM + M. ciceri and lowest in VAM + PSB. Single inoculations showed 30.3 to 90.7 % increase, the highest in T. viridae and the lowest in M. ciceri 36.6 to 75.4 % increase in stem dry matter was found with dual inoculations, the highest with PSB + M. ciceri. All dual inoculations and M. ciceri increased the root biomass (20.0 to 76.7 %), the paramount vaule was found in PSB + M. ciceri followed by VAM + M. ciceri and M. ciceri + T. viridae. Increase in pod dry matter was 5.1 to 8.8 g with dual and 3.1 to 4.9 g with single inoculations, PSB + M. ciceri ranked first followed by VAM + M. ciceri and M. ciceri + T. viridae. Increase in TDM was 1.32 to 1.58 folds with dual inoculations, the highest in PSB + M. ciceri, VAM + M. ciceri and M. ciceri + T. viridae. Total chlorophyll content (SPAD reading) observed was 15.3-27.7 % higher with dual and 5.8-12.3% higher with single inoculations. At vegetative stage, dual inoculations increased the NR activity to a tune of 9.8 to 45.9 %, showed the maximum in PSB + M. ciceri and single inoculations also to a tune of 9.0 to 45.9 % showed the maximum in M. ciceri. Increase in N content was 1.7 folds with PSB + M. ciceri, 1.4 to 1.5 folds with PSB + T. viridae, VAM + M. ciceri, M. ciceri + T. viridae, M. ciceri and VAM + PSB and 1.2 to 1.3 folds with PSB, T. viridae and VAM + T. viridae. Increase in P content was 1.5 times with PSB, 1.4 times with PSB + M. ciceri, VAM + PSB and PSB + T. viridae and 1.1 times with remaining treatments (T1, T3, T4, T6, T7 and T10). Increase in K content was 1.56 folds with PSB + M. ciceri, 1.13 with VAM + PSB, VAM + M. ciceri and M. ciceri + T. viridae and 1.05 to 1.1 folds with T. viridae, VAM + T. viridae and PSB + T. viridae. Pod number increased by 47.8, 41.9, 35.9, 30.01 and 26.9 per cent with PSB + M. ciceri, VAM + M. ciceri, M. ciceri + T. viridae, PSB + T. viridae and VAM + T. viridae, respectively. Pod weight plant-1 increased by 1.2 to 1.3 folds in single and 1.3 to 1.6 folds in dual inoculations, the highest was found in PSB + M. ciceri followed by VAM + M. ciceri and M. ciceri + T. viridae. Increase in shelling percentage was 3.2 to 7.8 and 6.7 to 9.2 % with single and dual inoculations. The highest seed yield (2521.3 kg ha-1) was obtained with PSB + M. ciceri followed by VAM + M. ciceri (2483.3 kg ha- 1), M. ciceri + T. viridae (2371.5 kg ha-1), VAM + T. viridae (2356.4 kg ha-1) and PSB + T. viridae (2298.8 kg ha-1). These dual inoculations resulted in 22.3 to 34.1 % increase in seed yield and 42.7 to 45.9 % in harvest index, the returns per rupee invested is 2.99 in PSB + M. ciceri, 2.94 in VAM + M. ciceri and 2.91 in M. ciceri + T. viridae compared to 1.98 in control.en-USnullThesis