PGPR improve physiological and yield attributes in mustard under different regimes of water supply

Abstract

ABSTRACT Study was aimed to evaluate the effect of rhizobacteria on physiological attributes, agro-morphological-traits and yield of mustard under rainfed, one irrigation and two irrigation, at two different agro-climatic locations. At both locations, plant height, yield and physiological attributes – relative water content, membrane stability index and chlorophyll content – were adversely affected under rainfed condition; single irrigation had beneficial effect on these parameters. Two irrigations did not have similar impact at both locations. Inoculation with all the rhizobacteria improved yield, yield components and most of the assayed physiological attributes. The highest seed yield at Location I (2410 kg ha−1) and Location II (2130 kg ha−1) was obtained due to the inoculation with rhizobacteria Bacillus casamancensis MKS 6 and Bacillus sp. MRD 17, respectively; there was an increase in mustard seed yield by 650 kg ha−1 and 430 kg ha−1 compared with uninoculated treatment at Locations I and II, respectively. Correlation analysis indicated strong positive correlation between most of the plant biometric traits and plant physiological attributes. Hence, due to the application of rhizobacteria, plantphysiological attributes were improved, as a result, crop growth and yield were enhanced. Thus, these rhizobacterial strains can be used as bioinoculants to alleviate the adverse effects of drought and improve crop productivity.