Performance of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea Linn) under nitrogen fixing and phosphorus solubilizing microbial inoculants with different levels of cobalt in alluvial soils of eastern India
¹Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology,Kharagpur-721 302, West Bengal, India
*Corresponding author: 1Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering,Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721 302, West Bengal, India;e-mail: basu.manisha@gmail.com; tel.: +919732654642
Abstract:
A field experiment was conducted for three years to evaluate the performance of groundnut under alluvial soil of eastern India with different types of inoculants such as Rhizobium and phosphobacterium inoculants, no inoculant, and different levels of cobalt ( 0.21 and 0.42 kg ha-1). Results indicated that Rhizobium inoculant promoted higher yield and nutrient uptake as compared to phosphobacterium. Kernel yield, averaged across three levels of cobalt, was recorded to be highest for Rhizobium inoculant, which was 16.50% and 10.72% higher over no inoculant and phosphobacterium inoculant respectively. Cobalt at the rate 0.21 kg ha-1 proved to be better as compared with other doses of cobalt and resulted in 10% higher kernel yield over no cobalt application. Among different treatment combinations, integrated application of Rhizobium + cobalt at the rate 0.21 kg ha-1 resulted in greater yield than that of other combinations, followed by phosphobacterium inoculant with the same dose of cobalt application. The yield and uptake of N, P and K by groundnut was significantly higher in the treatments receiving both inoculants and cobalt applied at 0.21 kg ha-1 than individual application of either inoculants or cobalt. The beneficial effect of application of microbial inoculants and cobalt was also reflected on the soil fertility status.
Key words:
Arachis hypogaea, cobalt, kernel yield, phosphobacterium, Rhizobium