Abstract:
To find out the effect of seed bio-priming with liquid bio-fertilizers and application of sources of nutrients on crop growth and yield of Chilli, a field experiment was conducted at the Department of Seed Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore on 2013 during Kharif and Rabi seasons. The results revealed that the plant growth and yield parameters were more in the plants grown from bio-primed seeds with Azospirillum than the nonprimed seed. Among the sources of nutrients, the performance of inorganic fertilizer was higher than organic manures. Among the organic manures, seed bioprimed with Azospirillum and applied with poultry manure recorded the plant height of 66.2 and 63.9 cm, leaf area index of 1.665 and 1.621 and chlorophyll index of 44.9 and 43.9 in both the seasons. The same results were obtained with respect to number of flowers plant-1, number of fruits plant-1 and fruit set percentage which were significantly higher in Azospirillum biopriming seed with inorganic fertilizer than organic treatments. The seed yield was high in the treatment involving seed bio-priming with Azospirillum and inorganic fertilizer (219.1 and 212.6 kgha-1) followed by poultry manure (213.5 and 207.4 kgha-1) than in the control (209.5 and 205.0 kgha-1) in both the seasons.
