Vol. 11, Issue 8 (2022)

Author(s):
Kuber Shivashakarappa, Brijesh S Ajjappala, Raghavendra G, Ajay Kadi, Abhilash Vuppula and Venkatesh Reddy

Abstract:
The most productive use of land resources has emerged as a significant challenge for India's food production security in recent years. Soil micro-organisms have been generally assumed to have a beneficial impact on soil fertility and productivity. A sustainable approach to boost crop production and growth is the use of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), This work primarily aimed to study the influence of some PGPR on promoting crop growth under greenhouse condition and the effects of PGPR on crop yield of foxtail millet under field condition. Initially, the PGPR were isolated from the sorghum rhizosphere using the serial dilution method. The molecular identity of the isolated bacteria was identified by 16S rDNA sequencing. The strains were identified as Pseudomonas putida, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, and Pantoea Stewart. Foxtail millet seeds were inoculated with bacterial strains and evaluated for shoot and root growth under greenhouse condition, whereas ear-head weight, grain weight, fodder weight, and ear-head length under field condition. According to our findings, foxtail millet produced the highest root and shoot lengths when seeds were inoculated with Bacillus cereus (19.33cm) and Pseudomonas putida (28.66cm), respectively, under greenhouse conditions. On the other hand, among the four bacterial cultures, Bacillus subtilis exhibited the best performance in terms of grain weight (40.42%), ear-head weight (30.19%), fodder weight (49.72%) and ear-head length (42.56%) compared to the control group under field conditions. When considered collectively, the empirical evidences suggests that plant growth promoting rhizobacteria can improve crop growth and production under green house and field conditions, respectively.