Effect of Biofertilizers and Biocontrol Agents on Growth and Yield in off Season Brinjal under Low Cost Polyhouse

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to determine the combined effect of biofertilizers and biocontrol agents on growth and yield of brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) under low cost polyhouse during off season in the experimental polyhouse of the College of Agricultural Engineering and Post Harvest Technology (CAEPHT), Central Agricultural University (CAU), Ranipool, Sikkim, India. The experiment was planned with 3 treatments and six replications viz. T1- Farm Yard Manure 5 kg/m2, T2- FYM 5 kg/m2 + biofertilizer (a mixture of Azotobactor + PSB at the rate 10 g/kg FYM each), T3- FYM 5 kg/m2 + biofertilizer + biocontrol agent (a mixture of Pseudomonas fluorescens + Trichoderma at the rate 5 g/kg FYM each). There was a significant variation in vegetative growth and yield among all the treatments. The maximum plant height (45.62 cm), the number of branches/ plant (11.17) and the number of leaves/ plant (50.05),the number of fruits/ plant (38.9) and fruit yield/ plant (810 g) were observed with treatment T3 which was at par with the treatment T2 and were significantly higher than the treatment T1 receiving FYM singly. Organic manure (FYM) inoculated with biofertilizers may therefore, be recommended for organic brinjal production for cultivation under low cost polyhouses in Sikkim (India) and application of biocontrol agents may be limited to areas having some history of occurrence of diseases because it involves an extra production cost in the application of biocontrol agents.