Application of Bio-Fertilizers Supplemented by NPK and Boron for Enhancing Growth and Yield of Bread Wheat

Abstract

Bread wheat is one of the major economic crops, but its productivity is compromised due to low soil fertility and nutrient availability; hence, it has become a significant challenge for farmers. Recently, more emphasis is being inflicted on sustainable agriculture, and biofertilizer is considered one of the main driving factors, supplemented with Boron and NPK.

 For this purpose, a two-year study (2017-18 and 2018-19) was conducted to investigate the synergistic effects of two biofertilizers (Biozote @ 2.5 kg ha^-1 and CC₇ @ 5 kg ha^-1), boron (B₁ @ 1 kg ha^-1, B₂ @ 2 kg ha^-1) and half of the recommended dose of NPK @ 50-40-30 kg ha^-1 on various agronomic and yield contributing traits of wheat. In this novel approach we evaluate the combined application treatments of NPK, Biofertilizers (Biozote + CC7) and boron against various parameters viz., plants m^-2, plant height (cm), spike length (cm), number of grain/ spike, grain weight /spike (g), spikelets/spike grain yield (kg/ha), biological yield (kg/ha), 1000 grains weight (g), harvesting index (%) and physiological parameters (chlorophyll contents, dry matter accumulation and crop growth rate). Results showed highly significant variability for treatment effects for all the studied traits, whereas years and interaction of treatments and years remained non-significant.

We concluded that T5 treatment could be enhance the spike length, spikelets / spike, grains weight, biological parameters and 1000grains weight. In this novel approach we evaluated the NPK + Biozote + B₂ and NPK + CC₇ + B_2.  According to the findings, two treatments, viz., were found best promising amongst all treatments. Among yield contributing traits, number of plant m^-2 (76.6 and 77.6), number of grain spike^-1 (41.33 and 42), grain weight spike^-1 (2.37 g and 2.45 g), thousand grain weight (46.88 g and 47.10 g), and grain yield (2009 kgha^-1 and 2018.3 kgha^-1) were the highest with the treatment of NPK + Biozote + B₂ for wheat crop in 2017-18 and 2018-19. Conclusively, it is observed that biofertilizer and Boron can improve wheat growth, development, and productivity, even with half of the recommended dose of NPK, which may have relatively lower economic input estimates than the full and recommended dose of NPK.