Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
was tested for its efficacy to solubilize RP and effect on the growth of wheat and
maize plants grown in soil amended with RP. Field experiments clearly showed that
the plants inoculated with
P. oxalicum
had significantly higher growth and resulted
in maximum yield of wheat and maize compared to the control plants. The P
content was also significantly increased in the plants (Singh et al.
2011
). Sharma
et al. (
2012
) in a follow-up study assessed the influence of P levels and PSF on yield
and nutrient uptake by wheat. The dry matter production by wheat at tillering, ear
emergence and harvest was significantly higher. Application of
A. awamori
gave
the highest dry matter accumulation at tillering, at ear emergence and at harvest.
Increasing levels of P also increased the grain and straw yield significantly.
Increasing level of P and inoculation with
A. awamori
and
A. niger
significantly
increased the uptake of N, P and K in wheat at all stages of growth. The
maximum N, P and K uptake was, however, recorded in grain and straw at harvest
which was followed by ear emergence and tillering stage when seeds were inocu-
lated with
A. awamori
.
4.6.2 Leguminous Crops
The effect of 6 PS fungi including two strains belonging to
A. awamori
and four to
P. citrinum
was tested for their growth-promoting efficiency against chickpea
plants (
Cicer arietinum
L. cv. GPF2) grown in pot experiments (Mittal
et al.
2008
). A maximum stimulatory effect on chickpea growth was observed
following inoculation of two
A. awamori
strains which resulted in 7-12 % increase
in shoot height, nearly threefold increase in seed number and twofold increase in
seeds weight as compared to the control (uninoculated) plants. Inoculation of four
strains of
P. citrinum
however exhibited lesser stimulatory effect and showed only
7 % increase in shoot height, twofold increase in seed number and 87 % increase in
seed weight relative to the control plants. However, a consortium of all the 6 fungal
isolates showed no stimulatory effect on chickpea plants growth. Later on, Kapri
and Tewari (
2010
) reported a significant increase in biological properties of
Trichoderma
-inoculated chickpea plants grown in P-deficient soil under glasshouse
conditions. The dry matter accumulation in above-the-ground plant organ (shoot)
was increased by 23 % and 33 % due to inoculation with the
Trichoderma
(DRT-1)
in the soil amended with 100 and 200 mg TCP kg
1
soil, respectively, after 60 d of
sowing. In a similar investigation, Yadav et al. (
2011a
) showed that co-inoculation
of T.
harzianum and A. niger
demonstrated a significant increase in the growth of
chickpea plants. Manivannan et al. (
2012
) conducted an experiment using
Asper-
gillus
sp. to enrich the total P content of vermicompost. The fungus was grown in
mass and the spore count was done periodically. Pre-prepared vermicompost was
mixed with a spore suspension of
Aspergillus
sp. at 1
108 spores/g. Treated
vermicompost was then mixed with soil, for pot culture studies. The composition
