STUDIES ON DIFFERENT LEVELS OF PHOSPHORUS FERTILIZER AND PHOSPHORUS SOLUBILIZING BACTERIA IN MUNGBEAN (VIGNA RADIATA L.)

Abstract

A field experiment on mungbean was conducted in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with five treatments and three replications. Treatments were T1 = control, T2 = 75 kg P/ha, T3 = Bacillus polymyxa @ 25 ml/kg of seed (122 x 108 cells/ml); T4 = 37.5 kg P/ha; T5 = Bacillus polymyxa @ 25 ml/kg of seed (122 x 108 cells/ml) + 37.5 kg P/ha. . The results showed that plant height, no. of pods/plant, single plant dry weight, no. of branches/plant, no. of panicles/plant, 100-grain weight, biological and grain yield recorded the highest values in T2, followed by T3, T4 and T5 respectively. However, the lowest values were observed in control treatment. Total bacterial count was highest (185 x 106 and 174 x105) at 0-15 and 15-30 cm in T2 after sowing of crop. Even after crop harvest, T2 recorded the highest total bacterial count of 181 x 104 and 161 x104 at 0-15 and 15-30 cm soil depths, respectively. The control treatment showed the lowest bacterial counts at both soil depths after sowing as well as harvesting of crop. It was further revealed that the application of Bacillus polymyxa alone contributed at par with T4 (37.5 kg P/ha) to the most of yield and yield contributing parameters of mungbean crop. Although T2 was superior to all other treatments, the application of P solubilizing bacterial inocula alone may contribute to mungbean yield potential to some extent in resource poor farming systems.