Impact of beneficial microorganisms on the growth, yield and shelf life of African Marigold

摘要

The investigation was conducted in the instructional cum research farm, Department of Horticulture, School of Agricultural Sciences and Rural Development, Medziphema, from November 2021 to March 2022. A field experiment was conducted in Randomized Blocks Design with three replications. Bio-formulations were used as a treatment to assess the impact of beneficial microorganisms on the vegetative, flowering, and yield parameters of African Marigold. Treatment consisted of Water soaked (Control), Phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB), Jeevamrutha, Microbial consortia, Indigenous effective micro-organisms (IEM), Pseudomonas fluorescence, Trichoderma harzianum. The results revealed that the highest plant height (71.73 cm), number of primary branches per plant (12.30), plant spread (51.20 cm~2), leaf length (14.3 cm), leaf width (6.50 cm), earliest flower bud initiation (54.43 days), first flower opening (60.86 days), days to 50 per cent flowering (75.46 days), flower diameter (5.86 cm), fresh flower weight (10.70 g), duration of flowering (41.13 days), number of ray florets per flower (193.66), number of flowers per plant (39.40), the weight of flower per plant (421.57 g), weight of flower per plot (6.745 kg), shelf life (4.70 days), and estimated yieldha~(-1) (263.47 q) were recorded with the use of T. harzianum. The present investigation suggests further work to understand the impact of beneficial microorganisms that contribute to increasing the growth, yield, and shelf life of African Marigold.