Response of Black Gram Crop to Rhizobacteria

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted during summer seasons in two consecutive years (2020-21 and 2021-22) at Experimental Farm of College of Agriculture, Tripura to find out the best Rhizobacteria inoculants for stimulation of nodulation and increasing yield of blackgram crop. From the findings of two years’ experiment, it can be noted that inoculation of Rhizobium significantly increased the number and dry mass of nodules (32.8 plant-1 and 35.8 mg plant-1 at 30 DAS), plant dry mass (26.8 g plant-1) and grain yield (861.3 kg ha-1) of black gram. Azotobacter chroococcum alone and with Rhizobium numerically favoured the nodulation (29.6 and 34.2 plant-1 respectively) in black gram. Rhizobium + A. chroococcum treatment produced significantly more plant dry mass (29.6 g plant-1) and grain yield (930.6 kg ha-1) of black gram over the uninoculated control (23.2 g plant-1 and 747.9 kg ha-1 respectively) and Rhizobium alone, respectively. Bacillus sp. in conjunction with Rhizobium were statistically comparable to Rhizobium alone inoculation in respect of nodule mass and grain yield. All the three inoculants together gave the 890.3 kg ha-1 black gram yield which was statistically comparable to Rhizobium + A. chroococcum in black gram. So, from the results of experiment, it can be concluded that dual inoculation of black gram seeds with Rhizobium + A. chroococcum promotes significant nodulation of black gram crop with in turn increases the plant biomass and seed yield of summer blackgram crop.