Influence of Microbial Inoculants and their Consortia on Growth, Yield, and Soil Biological Properties of Maize (Zea mays) under Vertisol Conditions

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at Wheat and Maize Research Unit, Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth, Parbhani to assess the Compatibility and Influence of Microbial Inoculants and their Consortia on Maize Grown on Vertisol during Kharif season of 2022. Ten different treatment combinations were used in the experiment which includes different microbial inoculants and their consortia Azospirillum + Bacillus megaterium (Consortia-I), Azospirillum + Frateuria aurantia (Consortia-II), Azospirillum + Thiobacillus thioxidase (Consortia-III), Azospirillum + Psedomonas strita (Consortia-ⅠⅤ), Azospirillum + Bacillus megaterium  + Frateuria aurantia  (Consortia-Ⅴ), Azospirillum + Bacillus megaterium  + Thiobacillus thioxidase  (Consortia-ⅤI), Azospirillum + Bacillus megaterium + Psedomonas strita (Consortia-ⅤII), and control replicated there in RBD (Randomized Block Design). Seed treatment of maize was done with microbial inoculants consortia @ 10 ml kg-1 seed and application at the time of sowing with recommended dose of fertilizers.  Among all the treatments, Azospirillum + PSB + ZnSB (Consortia-ⅤII) T10 significantly improved the growth attributes (plant height, ear height, number of leaves, cob length and cob girth) yield of maize crop and improving soil microbial as well as enzymatic properties of soil. As influence by microbial inoculants and their consortia. Study concludes that RDF with microbial consortia could help in improving yield up to 30 percent and growth attributes.