IMPACT OF ORGANIC AND BIOFERTILIZER APPLICATION ON YIELD AND YIELD ATTRIBUTING CHARACTERS IN LINSEED (Linum usitatissimum L.)

Abstract

Linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) belongs to family Linaceae, is the second most important rabi oilseed crop and stands next to rapeseed – mustard in area of cultivation and seed production in India. Flaxseed is grown as either oil crop or a fibre crop with fibre linen derived from the stem of fibre varieties and oil from the seed of linseed varieties. Several studies have been conducted on effect of fertilizers on growth and yield of linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) varieties which revealed their enhancing role on the quality and quantity of flax cultivars. In this regards, a present study was planned and conducted during the Rabi season of 2020-2021 in the Agricultural field of School of Agricultural Sciences, Shri Guru Ram Rai University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India to investigate the effect of organic and biofertilizer and integrated treatment on the growth and yield of Linseed. The findings were reported on important growth and yield attributed parameters such as plant height, total fresh weight, total yield, 1000- seed weight (g), and number of seed / capsules. The maximum growth and yield was reported in T6 treatment where biofertilizer have been applied in consortium form followed by vermicompost. Thus, the findings revealed that all the microbial strains in consortia used as bio fertilizers showed enhanced tern of vegetative growth of plants, total herbage yield and total seed yield at various stages. This may be due to sustained release of nutrients to supply the required elements in microbial strains. The biofertilizers exhibited beneficial effects on plant growth and development either through producing growth hormones like IAA, kinetin and gibberellins, synthesizing atmospheric nitrogen and its increased availability to greater protein synthesis as well as increasing Phosphorus availability to plant communities. Thus, it was concluded that the enhanced expression of yield and its related attributes will have beneficial impact in production of nutraceutical products of commercial importance.