Effect of Rhizobium, PSB and P-levels on Growth, Yield Attributes and Yield of Urdbean (Vigna mungo L.)

Surya Kant¹, Achin Kumar^1*, Satendra Kumar¹,

Vipin Kumar², Yogesh Pal² and Anil K. Shukla²

 

¹Department of Soil Science, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Modipuram, Meerut – 250 110, India.
²Department of Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi – 221 005, India.

ABSTRACT

A field experiment was conducted in kharif 2011 on urdbean genotype T-9.
The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replication and thirteen treatments. Some microorganisms have capable to convert the insoluble phosphorous to an accessible form and increase the growth and yield attributes viz, plant height, number of branches plant-1,  nodulation, dry matter accumulation plant -1,  number of pods plant -1, test weight (g), grain yield, straw yield and biological yield (qha-1) of Urdbean. All these characters were recorded higher in treatment T13 by application of (75 kg ha-1 P2O5 + PSB + Rhizobium.) as compared to all other treatments. However, combination of rhizobium, PSB and P levels had proved significant influence on plant growth, yield and its attributing traits in Blackgram. 

Keywords: Microbial inoculation, phosphorus, growth, yield and Urdbean.

INTRODUCTION

Pulses are one of the important segments of Indian agriculture after cereals and oilseeds with 33% of the world’s area and 22 % of the production. India is the largest pulse producing country. Pulses occupy nearly 26.28 million hectare of land with the production around 18.09 million tones and average productivity 6.9 q/ha In India. Due to low and unstable production and increasing the population pressure, per capita availability of pulses decreasing from 69 g in 1961 to about 31.6 g in 2010- 11, against the minimum requirement of 80 g per capita per day (Anonymous, 2011-12). To make up minimum 50 g pulses per capita per day and further demand from burgeoning population at least 23.88 m tonnes of pulses are required by 2015 which is expected to touch 29.30 million tonnes by 2020. To satisfy the demand of pulses requirement of ever increasing population, the production of pulses has to be increased only by increasing the yield/unit area/day (Anonymous, 2011).

Black gram (Vigna mungo L.) also known as urdbean, urd and urad, is an important pulse crop grown throughout India. The split grains of the pulses called dahl which is excellent source of high quality protein, essential amino acids, fatty acids, fibres, minerals and vitamins. Among all the pulses, blackgram (Vigna mungo L.) is a highly prized pulse for its biological protein value and rich in phosphoric acid. Being, a leguminous crop, black gram fulfills major part of nitrogen requirement by symbiotic nitrogen fixation with the help of bacterium called Rhizobia (Pareek, 1978).

Phosphorous has referred to as the “Master key element” in crop production. It is second most critical plant nutrient, but for pulses, it assumes primary importance, owing to its important role in root proliferation and thereby atmospheric nitrogen fixation. The yield and nutritional quality of pulses is greatly influenced by application of phosphorus. It plays a key role in various physiological processes like root growth, dry matter production, nodulation, nitrogen fixation and also in metabolic activities especially in protein synthesis. Phosphate deficiency in soil can severely limit plant growth, productivity of legumes, deleterious effect on nodule formation (Alikhani et al., 2006).

The role of microorganisms in solubilizing inorganic phosphates in soil and making them available to plants is well known (Barroso et al., 2006). These microorganisms bring about solubilization by the production of organic acid and phosphate enzyme activity. As regards phosphate only about 15-20 per cent of the applied phosphorous is utilized by first crop. Rhizobium is the bacteria which are involve in symbiotic biological nitrogen fixation; requires phosphorus for its growth and survival in soil, Rhizosphere colonization, infection and nodule development and energy transformation during Nitrogen fixation in root nodules (O, Hara et al. 1988). The phosphate solubalising Bacteria (PSB), dissolving inter locked phosphates appear to have an important implication in Indian agriculture. Dual inoculation of Rhizobium and phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) may help the plant to acquire both N and P. Co-inoculation of PSB with Rhizobium have been found to improve the nodulation and nitrogen fixation in Chickpea. Interest has been focused on the inoculation of rhizobia and PSB into the soil to increase the availability of native fixed phosphate and to reduce the use of fertilizers (Chakrabarti et al., 2007).

MATERIALS   AND  METHODS

The field experiment was conducted in kharif 2011 at Crop Research Centre, Chirori of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut (U.P.) India, to evaluate the effect of rhizobium, PSB and P-levels on growth, yield attributes and yield of Urdbean (Vigna mungo L.). The soil of the experimental field was sandy loam in texture, low in available nitrogen, available phosphorus and medium in available potassium. Thirteen treatments combinations comprising of all possible treatments of three levels of phosphorus viz., 25, 50 and 75 kg ha-1 P2O5, rhizbium and PSB, respectively (Table 1). P was applied through single super phosphate and seed was inoculated with 20 gm of rhizobium culture and 20 gm of PSB (Phosphate Solubilising Bacteria) culture 1 kg seed, each plot size being 3m x 4m, respectively. All the recommended cultural practices and plant protection measures were followed throughout the experimental periods. The height of plant, number of branches effective nodules, dry matter, test weight, pod plant-1, yield and yield contributing characters were recorded from all plots at pertinent stages. All obtained data from experiment were statistically analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) according to randomized block design as prescribed by (Panse and Sukhatme, 1978). Standard error of mean in each case and critical difference only for significance cases were computed at 5% levels of probability.

Critical difference= SEM±×2xt (at error degree of freedom)

Table 1. Details of the pot experiment and treatment

Experimental details
Crop                           :	Urd bean (Vigina mungo  L.) Cv T-9
Experimental design   :	Randomized Block Design (RBD)
Number of treatments :	13
Number of replication :	3
Number of plots         :	39     (13 × 3)
Treatment                   :	P – 25, 50 &75 kg ha-1,  Rhizobium and PSB
Treatments details :               T1 Control plot,                                                 T2(Phosphate Solubilizing bacteria), T3(Rhizobium),                                      T4(PSB + Rhizobium), T5(25kg ha-1P2O5 + PSB),                       T6(25kg ha-1P2O5 + Rhizobium), T7(25kg ha-1P2O5 + PSB + Rhizobium),   T8(50kg ha-1P2O5 + PSB), T9(50kg ha-1P2O5 + Rhizobium),             T10(50kg ha-1P2O5 +PSB+Rhizobium), T11 (75kg ha-1P2O5 +PSB),                     T12 (75kg ha-1P2O5 +Rhizobium) T13 (75kg ha-1P2O5 +PSB+Rhizobium)

 

 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Growth attributes

Plant height

                The plant height increased progressively at successive observations with advancement of crop age and was significantly affected by different treatments (Table 2). The highest plant height at 30, 60 and at harvesting was recorded 42.15, 63.70 and 64.47 cm in treatment T13 (75 kg P2O5 ha-1 + PSB + Rhizobium) respectively, which were superior to rest of the treatments, while smallest plant height was recorded in T1 (control). Plant height at pertinent stage was increased by 16.67, 19.91 and 20.25% in treatment T13 over control. The result is supported by Jain and Singh (2003), Gilani et al. (2004), Band et al. (2007), Dhyani et al. (2011).

Table 2. Effect of Rhizobium, PSB and P-levels on average plant height (cm) and number of branches plant^-1of Urdbean

Treatments	Plant height (cm.)			Number of  branchesplant-1
	30 DAS	60 DAS	At harvest	30 DAS	60DAS	At harvest
T1	36.13	53.12	53.61	10.76	14.75	15.50
T2	36.57	54.15	56.00	11.03	15.23	15.60
T3	37.33	56.05	57.54	11.33	15.92	15.55
T4	38.10	56.50	58.21	12.70	16.64	16.70
T5	38.18	59.54	58.91	13.60	18.03	17.90
T6	38.23	60.21	59.43	14.52	17.96	18.20
T7	38.90	60.58	60.80	15.33	19.50	19.97
T8	38.57	60.37	61.52	13.58	17.42	18.10
T9	39.23	60.87	62.23	14.66	18.69	19.45
T10	39.84	61.62	62.81	16.75	20.62	20.66
T11	39.42	62.43	63.20	14.32	19.20	20.20
T12	40.90	62.16	63.91	16.26	20.43	19.98
T13	42.15	63.70	64.47	16.94	21.65	22.20
SEm±	0.28	0.32	0.27	0.24	0.18	0.25
CD (0.05)	0.83	0.95	0.78	0.71	0.53	0.73

 

Number of branches plant-1

                The number of branches increased progressively at successive observations with advancement of crop age and was significantly affected by different treatments (Table 2). The maximum number of branches at 30, 60 and at harvesting was recorded 16.94, 21.65 and 22.20 cm in treatment T13 (75 kg P2O5 ha-1 + PSB + Rhizobium) respectively, which were superior to rest of the treatments, while minimum number of branches was recorded in T1 (control). Number of branches at pertinent stage was increased by 57.43, 46.78 and 43.23% in treatment T13 over control. The result is supported by Jain and Singh (2003), Gilani et al. (2004) and Singh et al. (2004).

Number of nodules plant-1

                The number of nodules decreased at successive observations with advancement of crop age and was significantly affected by different treatments (Table 3). The maximum number of nodules at 30 and 60 DAS was recorded 53.66 and 40.24 in treatment T13 (75 kg P2O5 ha-1 + PSB + Rhizobium) respectively, which were superior to rest of the treatments, while minimum number of nodules was recorded in T1 (control). Number of nodules at pertinent stage was increased by 76.92% and 86.30% in treatment T13 over control. The result is supported by Khatkar et al. (2007), Sattar et al. (1994), Jain et al. (1999), Beerendra and Gupta (2006), Gupta et al. (2006) and Jain et al. (2006).

 

 

Table 3. Effect of Rhizobium, PSB and P-levels on number of nodules plant^-1and dry matter of Urdbean

Treatments	Number of nodules                                Dry matter
	30 DAS	60 DAS	30 DAS	60DAS	At harvest
T1	30.33	21.60	5.03	11.14	12.52
T2	34.76	26.69	5.37	11.37	12.80
T3	37.50	27.60	5.43	11.50	12.93
T4	38.74	28.74	5.46	11.66	12.96
T5	39.10	30.50	5.57	11.78	13.57
T6	40.37	30.93	5.76	12.20	14.78
T7	41.75	32.44	5.90	12.80	14.85
T8	42.74	33.74	6.28	13.30	15.75
T9	46.34	34.80	6.33	13.43	15.83
T10	46.78	35.70	6.39	14.56	17.40
T11	47.34	38.26	6.47	14.78	17.62
T12	52.13	39.44	6.75	14.90	17.97
T13	53.66	40.24	7.20	15.30	18.00
SEm±	0.33	0.39	0.23	0.26	0.28
CD (0.05)	0.97	1.15	0.67	0.76	0.81

 

Dry Matter accumulation plant-1 (g)

                The dry matter increased progressively at successive observations with advancement of crop age and was significantly affected by different treatments (Table 3). The maximum dry matter accumulation at 30, 60 and at harvesting was recorded 7.20, 15.30 and 18.00 g in treatment T13 (75 kg P2O5 ha-1 + PSB + Rhizobium) respectively, which were superior to rest of the treatments, while minimum was recorded in T1 (control). Dry matter accumulation at pertinent stage was increased by 43.14, 37.34 and 43.76% in treatment T13 over control. The result is supported by Jain and Singh (2003), Band et al. (2007) and Hakeem et al. (2008).

Yield attributes

Number of pods plant-1

                Number of pods per plant was affected by different treatments. (Table 4). The maximum number of pods 50.2 was recorded in treatment T13 (75 kg P2O5 ha-1 + PSB + Rhizobium) respectively, which were superior to rest of the treatments, while minimum number of pods was recorded in T1 (control). The number of pods per plant was increased by 64.05% in treatment T13 over control. The results finding supported by the finding of Asheesh Elamathi (2007), Jain et al. (1999) and Meena et al. (2003).

Table 4. Effect of Rhizobium, PSB and P-levels on pod plant^-1, test weight, grain yield, stover yieldand biological yield of Urdbean

Treatments	Pod plant-1	1000-Seed weigh (g)	Grain yield (q ha-1)	Stover yield  (q ha-1)	Biological yield (q ha-1)
T1	30.60	36.40	6.31	21.48	27.79
T2	36.25	39.40	6.91	23.27	30.18
T3	37.70	37.60	7.05	24.27	31.81
T4	38.50	40.20	7.33	25.10	32.43
T5	42.20	41.50	6.92	24.77	31.19
T6	43.80	40.70	7.41	26.47	33.88
T7	45.10	41.84	8.02	27.07	35.09
T8	46.35	42.74	7.50	26.77	34.26
T9	47.90	42.12	8.08	28.70	36.78
T10	48.30	42.92	9.15	31.47	40.62
T11	49.10	43.70	8.86	29.40	38.26
T12	49.50	43.24	9.03	30.33	39.36
T13	50.20	44.10	9.28	31.60	40.88
SEm  ±	0.38	0.38	0.25	0.34	0.34
CD (P=0.05)	1.10	1.12	0.74	1.01	0.99

Test weight (g)

                Test weight was affected by different treatments (Table 4). The maximum weight 44.10 g was recorded in treatment T13 (75 kg P2O5 ha-1 + PSB + Rhizobium) respectively, which were superior to rest of the treatments, while minimum was recorded in T1 (control). The test weight increased by 21.15% in treatment T13 over control. The results finding supported by the finding of Meena et al. (2003) and Hakeem et al. (2008).

YIELD (qha-1)

                Grain yield was significantly affected by different treatments (Table 4). The maximum grain yield (9.28 q ha-1) was recorded in treatment T13 (75 kg P2O5 ha-1 + PSB + Rhizobium) respectively, which were superior to rest of the treatments, while minimum was recorded in T1 (control). Grain yield was increased by 47.06% in treatment T13 over control.

                Straw yield was significantly affected by different treatments (Table 4). The maximum grain yield (31.60 q ha-1) was recorded in treatment T13 (75 kg P2O5 ha-1 + PSB + Rhizobium) respectively, which were superior to rest of the treatments, while minimum was recorded in T1 (control). Straw yield was increased by 47.11% in treatment T13 over control.

                Biological yield was significantly affected by different treatments (Table 4).      The maximum grain yield (40.88 q ha-1) was recorded in treatment T13 (75 kg P2O5 ha-1 + PSB + Rhizobium) respectively, which were superior to rest of the treatments, while minimum was recorded in T1 (control). Straw yield was increased by 47.10% in treatment T13 over control. The result is supported by Jain et al. (1999), Meena et al. (2002), Tanwar et al (2002), Bhat et al. (2005), Band et al. (2007) and Rathore et al. (2007).

                Rhizobium and PSB inoculation on urdbean was significantly increased all growth characters viz., plant height, number of branches plant-1, nodulation, dry matter accumulation plant -1, number of pods plant -1, test weight (g), grain yield, straw yield and biological yield (qha-1)as compared to without inoculation but its efficacy was significantly enhanced when inoculation was supplemented with phosphorus due to the synergistic effect of Rhizobium and PSB inoculation over control. Highly significant increase was observed in combined application of Co – inoculation of Rhizobium, PSB and 75 kg P2O5 ha-1.

CONCLUSION

From the above study it is concluded that the combination of rhizobium, PSB and P levels were found superior than alone application of treatments in terms of growth and yield parameters of Urdbean. The  application of Rhizobium and PSB along with 75 kg ha-1 P2O5 in treatment T13 gave the maximum grain yield (9.28 q ha-1) respectively, which were superior to rest of the treatments, while minimum was recorded in T1 (control). The grain yield was increased by 47.06% in treatment T13 over control). Inoculation of rhizobia and PSB into the soil found beneficial to increase the availability of native fixed phosphate and to reduce the use of fertilizers

REFERENCES

1. Alikhani, H.A., Saleh, R.N. and Antoun, H., Phosphate solubilisation activity of rhizobia native to Iranian soils. Plant Soil, 2006; 287: 35-41.
2. Anonymous,Agricultural statistics at glance, Ministry of agriculture, Government of India, 2011.
3. Anonymous, Directorate of Agriculture, Gujarat state, 2011-12.
4. Asheesh Elamathi, S., Effect of nitrogen levels and Rhizobium application methods on yield attributes, yield and economics of black gram (Vigna mungo). International J. Agric. Sciences 2007; 3(1): 179-180.
5. Band, A.M., Mendhe, S.N., Kolte, H.S., Choudhary, R.L., Verma, R. and Sharma, S.K., Nutrient management studies in French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Journal of Soils and Crops, 2007; 17(2): 367-372.
6. Barroso, C.V., Pereira, G.T. and Nahas, E., Solubilization of CaHPO4 and AlPO4 by Aspergillus niger in culture media with different carbon and nitrogen sources. Braz. J. Microbiol, 2006; 37: 434-438.
7. Beerendra Singh, Gupta, B.R., Effect of biofertilizers at different levels of phosphorus on nodulation, yield and protein content in black gram (Vigna mungo L.). Farm Science Journal, 2006; 15(1): 78-80.
8. Bhat, S.A., Thenua, O.V.S. Shivakumar, B.G.  Malik, J.K., Performance of summer greengram [Vigna radiata (L.)] as influenced by biofertilizers and phosphorus nutrition. Haryana Journal of Agronomy, 2005; 21(2): 203-205.
9. Chakrabarti, J., Chatterjee, N.C. and Dutta, S., Interactive effect of VAM and Rhizobium on nutrient uptake and growth of Vigno mungo. J. Mycopathological Res., 2007; 45(2): 289-291.
10. Dhyani, B.P., Yogesh Kumar, Shahi, U.P., Ashok Kumar, Singh, R.R., Singh, S.P., Swaroop, R., Effect of nitrogen, phosphorus, vermicompost, bio-fertilizers on growth and yield of Urd bean (Vigna mungo).Pantnager Journal of Research, 2011; 9 (1): 72-74.
11. Gilani Seerat-un-Nissa, Ram Bharose, Effect of bio-fertilizers on the enrichment of soil fertility with special reference to soil phosphorus status and its effect on yield of green gram (Vigna radiata L.). New Agriculturist, 2004; 15 (1/2): 129-131.
12. Hakeem, S.A., Thomas, T., Shagufta, Wani, Effect of different levels of neem cake and biofertilizers on growth, yield attributes and nutrient uptake in black gram (Vigna mungo L.) type-9. Environment and Ecology, 2008; 26: (1A): 369-371.
13. Jain, L.K., Pushpendra Singh, Growth and nutrient uptake of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) as influenced by bio-fertilizers and phosphorus nutrition. Crop Research Hisar, 2003; 25(3): 410-413.
14. Jain, L.K., Singh, P. Balyan, J.K., Productivity and profitability of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivation as influenced by biofertilizers and phosphorus fertilization. Indian Journal of Dryland Agricultural Research and Development, 2006; 21 (1): 82-84.
15. Jain, P.C., Kushwaha, P.S., Dhakad, U.S., Khan, H., Trivedi, S.K., Response of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) to phosphorus and Biofertilizer. Legume Research, 1999; 22(4): 241-244.
16. Khatkar, Rahul, Abraham Thomas and Joseph Ann Shalu, Effect of Bio fertilizers and sulphur levels on growth and yield of black gram (Vigna mungo L.). Legume Research, 2007; 30 (3):233-234.
17. Meena, Raj pal, Jat, N.L. and Meena, N.L., Effect of phosphorus and biofertilizers (Rhizobium and PSB) on yield and yield attributes of cluster bean [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub]. Annals of Agricultural Research, 2002; 23(2): 349-351.
18. Meena, Raj pal, Jat, N.L. and Meena, N.L., Effect of phosphorus and biofertilizers on yield and quality of cluster bean [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub]. Annals of Agricultural Research, 2003; 24 (1): 145-147.
19. O’ Hara, G.W., Bookerd, N. and Dilworth, M.J., Mineral constraints to nitrogen fixation. PI. Soil, 1988; 198: 93-110.
20. Panse, VG. And Sukhatme PV., Statistical methods for agricultural workers. ICAR, New Delhi, 1978.
21. Pareek, S.K., Saroha, M.S. and Singh, H.G., Effect of Sulphur on chlorosis and yield of blackgram on calcareous soils. Indian J. Agron, 1978; 23(3): 102-107.
22. Rathore, V.S., Singh, J.P., Soni, M.L., Beniwal, R.K., Effect of nutrient management on growth, productivity and nutrient uptake of rainfed clusterbean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba) in arid region. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2007; 77 (6): 349-353.
23. Sattar, M.A., Podder, A.K. and Chanda, M.C., Rhizobial biofertilizers: the most promising BNF technology for increased grain legume production in Bangladesh.   Biological nitrogen fixation associated with rice production. Based on selected papers presented in the International Symposium, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1994; 28 Nov -2 Dec 15-20
24. Singh, A.P., Sumit Chaturvedi, Tripathi, M.K. and Singh, S., Growth and yield of green gram [Vigna radiata L.] as influenced by biofertilizer and phosphorus application. Annals of Biology, 2004; 20 (2): 227-232.
25. Tanwar, S.P.S., Sharma, G.L. and Chahar, M.S., Effects of phosphorus and biofertilizers on the growth and productivity of black gram. Annals of Agricultural Research, 2002; 23(3): 491-493.