Enhancing the Nutrient Uptake and Quality of Pearlmillet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) through Use of Biofertilizers

Abstract

Inoculation of biofertilizers leads to reduction of chemical fertilizer requirement by fixation & solubilisation of plant nutrients and thus, may able to maximize plant growth, yields and quality of output.To study the beneficial effect of biofertilizers on performance of pearlmillet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) a field experiment was conducted in randomized block designduring the rainy (Kharif) season of 2014 at Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, India.Seeds of pearlmillet were treated with diazotrophic bacteria namely- Pseudomonas fluorescens, Azotobacter chroococcum, Azospirillum lipoferum, Acetobacter diazotrophicus and one fungi- Trichoderma viride @ 10-25 g kg-1alone and in combinations. The combined treatment with all the bioinoculants enhanced the grain yield (44%), nutrient uptake (N by 79.9% and P by 87.9%) and grain quality (Protein by 58.9% and carbohydrate by 17%), single inoculation was also found profitable over the control (Un-inoculated). Therefore, inoculation of pearlmillet seed with different biofertilizers could produce pollution free and healthy (better quality) food for increasing population and may able to reduce chemical fertilizer application without any significant reduction in grain yield.