Asian Journal of Microbiology, Biotechnology & Environmental Sciences Paper

RESPONSE OF BIOFERTILIZERS IN COMBINATION WITH PHOSPHOROUS ON NUTRIENT CONTENT OF CHRYSANTHEMUM (CHRYSANTHEMUM MORIFOLIUM RAMAT.) CV. DOLLY ORANGE

ANOP KUMARI, R.K. GOYAL, MAHESH CHOUDHARY AND S.S. SINDHU

Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted in the screen-house of Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during 2011-12 and 2012-13 to investigate the potential effect of different levels of phosphorus (0, 10, 15 and 20 g/m2) and biofertilizers (mycorrhiza and PSB) on Chrysanthemum cv. Dolly Orange. The maximum nitrogen content (3.27 and 3.32%) was recorded with phosphorus 20 g/m2, which remained at par with phosphorus 15 g/m2 (3.16 and 3.08%), whereas, it was minimum (1.97 and 1.78%) in control during the year 2011-12 and 2012-13, respectively. Among biofertilizers, inoculation of phosphorous solubilising bacteria (PSB) recorded the maximum nitrogen content in plant (3.24 and 3.07%), which was at par with mycorrhiza (3.13 and 2.92%) application in the year 2011-12 and 2012-13, respectively. The maximum P content (0.45 and 0.44%) was recorded with phosphorus 20 g/m2 in the year 2011-12 and 2012-13, respectively, however, in the year 2012-13, it was at par with phosphorus 15 g/m2 (0.41%). The minimum P content (0.17 and 0.26%) was recorded with control during both the years, respectively. Among the biofertilizers, PSB inoculated plants recorded the maximum phosphorous content in plant (0.36 and 0.43%), which was at par with mycorrhiza inoculation (0.33 and 0.38%), whereas, the minimum P content (0.28 and 0.27%) was observed with control during the year 2011-12 and 2012-13, respectively. In the year 2011-12, maximum K content (1.55 %) was recorded with phosphorus 10 g/m2 and then K content decreased with the increasing levels of phosphorous. In the next year, effect of phosphorous was found to be nonsignificant on K content in plant. The response of biofertilizers and interaction between phosphorous levels and biofertilizers on K content of chrysanthemum plant was found to be non-significant during both the years.