Abstracts |
A field experiment was conducted with onion cv. Pusa Madhavi during rabi 2005-06 in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India, during rabi 2005-06. There were 13 treatments consisting of 100% recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF; 100 kg N+50 kg P+70 kg K/ha), 75% RDF (77 kg N+37.5 kg P+52.5 kg K/ha), 50% RDF (50 kg N+25 kg P+35 kg K/ha), and biofertilizers (alone and in combinations), along with the control. Azotobacter and phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) both as seedling root treatment, and vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi as soil application were applied at the time of transplanting. Among the treatments, the 100% RDF recorded the best results in respect of plant height (61.70 cm), leaf number per plant (8.36), number of days for bulb initiation (68.11 days) and number of days for bulb maturity (125.06 days), while the combined application of biofertilizers with 75% RDF improved the plant height (60.90 cm), leaf number per plant (8.14), number of days for bulb initiation (70.13 days) and number of days for bulb maturity (129.73 days). Among the treatments, the 100% RDF resulted in the highest values for neck thickness (1.36 cm), bulb weight (88.19 g), bulb diameter (5.86 cm vertical and 6.16 cm horizontal) and bulb yield per plot (12.14 kg). The combined application of biofertilizers with 75% RDF significantly increased all these traits (1.30 cm, 86.65 g, 5.43 cm vertical and 6.03 cm horizontal, and 11.89 kg, respectively), followed by 75% RDF alone. |