The present investigation was conducted at the research farm of wheat Section, Department of Plant Breeding Genetics, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana during rabi 2014-15 and 2015-16 in split plot design with three replications. The treatments included inoculation of seed and soil with Azotobacter besides the uninoculated control as check in main plots and different levels of recommended nitrogen (0,50, 75 and 100 of recommended nitrogen) in sub plots. The seed of wheat when inoculated with Azotobacter recorded significantly highest growth attributes at maturity viz. plant height (82.6 cm), tiller density (320.9), dry matter accumulation (94.0 q/ha), LAI (3.32), PAR interception (79.6 and chlorophyll content (2.03 mg/g of fresh wt.). Thetrend for soil inoculation was similar to that of seed inoculation but the values of the above said parameters were either equivalent or a bit lower than that recorded for seed inoculation. The grain yield (48.0 and 47.3 q/ha) and quality in terms of protein content (11.49 and 11.34) of wheat on inoculation with Azotobacter (either seed or soil respectively) also improved over uninoculated plot. Among the nitrogen levels (100, 75 and 50 of recommended N), application of 100 recommended nitrogen resulted in significantly higher growth than other levels of nitrogen in terms of plant height (92.8 cm), tiller count (366.8), dry matter accumulation (104.8 q/ha), LAI (3.89), PAR interception (89.0), chlorophyll content (2.34 mg/g of fresh weight) andalso productivity in terms of grain yield (56.3 q/ha) The quality of wheat in terms of protein (11.84) and gluten index (77.12) also improved with application of 100 recommended nitrogen.
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