admin

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted for two years (2013-14 and 2014-15) to study the effect of microbial consortia [MC1: (Anabaena sp. (CR1) + Providencia sp. (PR3) consortia; MC2: Anabaena-Pseudomonas bio-filmed formulations] and zinc fertilization (5 kg Zn ha–1 through zinc sulphate heptahydrate) on growth attributes of rice in three crop establishment methods (CEMs). The rice variety ‘Pusa Sugandh–5’ was grown in puddled transplanted rice (PTR), the system of rice intensification (SRI) and aerobic rice system (ARS) as main plot and nine sub-plot treatments under split plot design. The sub-plot treatment comprises of application of recommended dose of nutrients (RDN 120 kg N ha–1 and 25.8 kg P ha–1), 75 % RDN, 75 % RDN + MC1 and 75 % RDN + MC2. These two treatments were evaluated with and without zinc (Zn) application (Zn @ 5 kg ha-1 through ZnSO4 .7H2 O as basal soil application) and an absolute control. The results showed that PTR and SRI had significantly higher dry matter production which was 2.35-9.51 and 12.37-19.38 g/m2 over ARS. The increase in dry matter production was 10.80- 15.67 g/m2 and 28.72-31.94 g/m2 at 70 and 100 DAS with microbial consortia, while zinc fertilization recorded 10.62- 12.88 g/m2 and 19.76-19.88 g/m2. This was translated into leaf area index, crop growth rate and relative growth rate. The increase in crop growth rate with microbial consortia, zinc fertilization and optimum fertilization was observed as follows, 0.47-0.69, 0.23 0.31 and 0.43-0.65 g/m2 day-1, respectively indicating their role in growth attributing characters of rice. The treatment with application of RDN + Zn, 75 % RDN + MC1 + Zn and 75 % RDN + MC2 + Zn were found superior in their performance over all other treatments