Effect of Liquid Biofertilizers on Productivity, Quality and Soil Biota of Fodder Sorghum

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted during Rabi season of 2022 on sandy clay loam soils at wetland farm of the S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India, to study the effect of liquid biofertilizers on productivity, quality, and soil biota of fodder sorghum. The treatments were allocated in randomized block design and replicated thrice. The soil was neutral in reaction (6.9 pH), low in available nitrogen (115 kg ha-1), medium in available phosphorus (29 kg ha-1) and low in available potassium (156 kg ha-1) status. The initial soil contains bacteria (13.08 X 107 CFU g-1 soil), fungi (4.04 X 104 CFU g-1 soil) and actinomycetes (1.54 X 103 CFU g-1 soil). The results revealed that the maximum green (32.1 t ha-1) and dry (13.0 t ha-1) fodder yield as well as crude protein (7.3%) were obtained with the application of 75% RDF + Azospirillum + PSB + KSB (Both seed & soil application). Furthermore, this treatment produced a significantly higher soil bacterial (23.2 X 107 CFU g-1 soil), fungal (13.7 X 104 CFU g-1 soil) and actinomycetes (10.3 X 103 CFU g-1 soil) population at harvest.