The present study investigates the performance of recommended doses of chemical fertilizer (RDF) and locally isolated strains of Azotobacter, Azospirillum, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculated either solely or in combination with seedlings of Red Delicious and Lal Ambri cultivars. The RDF (T 7 ) treatment recorded significantly greater vegetative growth and leaf nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) contents over multi-inoculation of Azotobacter + Azospirillum + AMF (T 6 ) but root colonization and microbial counts decreased significantly. Inoculation of Azotobacter + Azospirillum + AMF (T 6 ) was superior over sole and dual inoculation with respect to vegetative growth and nutrient contents in leaves and soil but had significant greater counts of Azotobacter, Azospirillum, and Pseudomonas than RDF. Greatest root colonization (34.0 and 35.1%) was recorded in Azotobacter + Azospirillum + AMF (T 6 ) followed by AMF (T 4 ) treatment (29.3 and 32.0%) in Red Delicious and Lal Ambri seedlings, respectively. Overall, it can be inferred that multiinoculation of synergistically interacting bioinoculants may be helpful in the establishment of healthy organic apple orchards.

Aim : Methodology :Results : Interpretation :A survey was conducted to evaluate the inherent fertility status and study the effect of available nutrients on yield and quality parameters of pear fruit selected from twenty four representative pear growing orchards in three established physiographic altitudes in district Pulwama during 2014-15.

No abstract

No abstract

-Large field to field variability restricts efficient fertilizer management when broad based blanket recommendations are used in rice. Hence, the nutrient management for rice requires an approach that enables adjustments in nutrient applications to accommodate the sitespecific needs of the crop for supplemental nutrients. This study was conducted to establish and evaluate the threshold leaf colour value to guide in-season need based fertilizer N top dressing in Pusa Sugandh-3. For this purpose various growth parameters, yield parameters, grain and straw yield were measured in both years. Almost all the measured parameters in LCC 4 @ 20 kg N ha -1 were significantly higher than remaining LCC and fixed time N management treatments as well as control. Following the principle that threshold value is the one which simultaneously optimizes grain yield and NUE, LCC 4 @ 20 kg N ha -1 was adjudged as the threshold value for real time nitrogen management in Pusa Sugandh-3.