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Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L. (Cauliflower) is an important commercial vegetable crop grown all over the world. In order to meet the growing demand of burgeoning population, large amounts of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers are being applied to the fields every year to achieve maximum production leading to deleterious environmental effects.The present investigation 'Integrated nutrient management in cauliflower was undertaken at the Instructional Farm of Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, Latur during the Rabi season. The experiment laid out in Randomized Block Design (R.B.D.) with fourteen treatments replicated thrice. The treatment comprises with RDF (120:80:40 NPK kg/ ha.), FYM (10 t/ha), Azotobacter and Azospirillum (10 kg/ha). The variety Snowball -16 was selected for the study. The data regarding soil analysis after harvesting, the maximum available nitrogen (265.66 kg ha -1 ), available phosphorus (23.26 kg ha -1 ) and available potassium (415.33 kg ha -1 ) were recorded in highest dose of INM i.e. 100 % RDF + FYM + Azotobacter + Azospirillum(T 2 ) and is was statistically at par with T 6 and T 8 . The maximum organic carbon (0.93 per cent) was recorded in the treatment 75 % RDF + FYM + Azotobacter + Azospirillum(T 6 ). There were no significant differences of INM treatments observed on soil pH and electrical conductivity. This result suggested that 25% chemical fertilizers can be reduced without any compromise on fertility status of the soil for cauliflower crop production in sub-tropical condition.

In the current study, a total of 25 isolates were isolated from the rhizosphere and roots of cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.) from the vicinity of Una district of Himachal Pradesh. The isolates were tested in vitro for their ability to solubilise phosphorous and produce siderophore, indole acetic acid (IAA), hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and antifungal metabolites against the soil borne pathogens. Results revealed that out of 25, only 4 rhizospheric isolates (SB 5 , SB 11 , SB 8 and SB 10 ) have maximum plant growth promoting attributes. The isolates were identified as Bacillus sp. on the basis of Bergey's manual of systematic bacteriology. The isolate SB 11 recorded highest phosphate solubilizing efficiency in solid medium (109.09%) and in liquid medium (350µg/ml). Maximum production of IAA (51.96µg/ml), siderophore (91.41%) and HCN were also observed for the same isolate. Furthermore, the isolate SB 11 produced highest antifungal metabolite production against Rhizoctonia solani (37.11%), Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (41.11%), and Pythium sp. (71.11%) causing root rot, stalk rot and damping off diseases in cauliflower, respectively. The selected isolate (SB 11 ) showed optimum growth at a pH of 7.0, 35°C temperature and 2% NaCl. On the basis of multifarious PGP-traits the SB 11 isolate has tremendous potential to be used as a biofertilizer/bioprotectant for growth promotion and natural protection of cauliflower under low hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh.

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The present study was initiated with testing of fifteen previously isolated indigenous plant growth promoting rhizobacteria for drought tolerance. Among all, two best isolates Pseudomonas aeruginosa (JHA6) and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (ROH14) were selected for in-vivo studies. A total of ten treatments comprising Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) (JHA6 and ROH14) inoculated plants held at 80%, 60% and 40% field capacity (FC) soil moisture level was laid down in Completely Randomized Design with three replications. Un-inoculated plants held at various stress levels and non-stressed conditions (100% FC) served as control. In general, both the bacteria could promote Capsicum growth in terms of increase in root and shoot biomass, height of plants, chlorophyll content as well as increase in nutrient content and uptake. Besides, the bacterial inoculated Capsicum plants could withstand water stress more efficiently as indicated by increases in leaf area, total soluble proteins and relative water content of treated water stressed plants in comparison to untreated stressed ones. Enhanced antioxidant responses were evident as elevated activities of enzymes such as superoxide dismutase, catalase and peroxidase was recorded. Therefore, the ability of Capsicum plants to tolerate water stress is enhanced by application of the isolated bacteria which also function as plant growth promoting rhizobacteria.