Studies on the influence of biofertilizers in combination with inorganic nutrients on growth, yield and quality attributes of onion (Allium cepa L.)

Abstract

With an increasing population and the food security is at risk, there is decreased crop productivity as soil fertility status is declining. As, the present experiment was conducted in view of understanding the better nutrient acquisition of plants in the presence of biofertilizers on the growth, yield and quality parameters of onion under randomized block design with three replications and ten treatments in order to optimize nutrient uptake for improved agricultural productivity and sustainability, providing valuable insights for more efficient farming practices. The results revealed that the growth parameters such as maximum plant height (72.68cm) and leaf length (63.07 cm) were recorded with the treatment T2 (100% RDF); number of leaves (10.13) was recorded with treatment T6 (100% RDF + Bacillus); leaf width (17 mm) and neck length (9.78 cm) were recorded with treatment T5 (100% RDF + Pseudomonas); yield parameters such as plant fresh weight (189.33g) was recorded with treatment T5 (100% RDF + Pseudomonas); bulb weight at harvest (170.46g) and yield/m2 (3.78 kg/m2) was recorded maximum with treatment T6 (100% RDF + Bacillus). The quality parameters such as ascorbic acid (14.67 mg/100g) and dry matter % (20.32) were also recorded maximum for treatment T6 (100% RDF + Bacillus). As a result, it can be concluded that the combination of 100% RDF + Bacillus is best as compared to other treatments as it projected highest B:C ratio (2.98) in view of onion production.