LAUSR

Abiotic stresses are among the major threats in agriculture to achieve optimum growth and yield of crops. Besides other abiotic stresses, salinity and sodicity problems are centre of attention. Higher uptake of undesirable salts, hamper the growth of plants. These salts increase the production of stress ethylene, exerting negative effects on growth. In addition, imbalance in nutrients uptake drastically decrease the yield of crops. To overcome the problem of salt stress, use of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) is an efficacious technique. However, to increase the efficacy of this technique, use of organic amendments with PGPR is mostly suggested. Therefore, the current study was conducted to examine the role of ACC deaminase producing rhizobacterial strains i.e. Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and Alcaligenes faecalis in separate and conjoint with biogas slurry (BGS) on growth and yield of maize in saline-sodic field conditions. Recommended Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) fertilizers (NPK) were applied to fulfill crop nutrients requirement. Application of Alcaligenes faecalis+BGS+NPK gave maximum increase in plant height (16%), number of grain cob (17%), 1000-grain weight (16%), total chlorophyll content (11%), carotenoids (1.9 fold), anthocyanin (2.3 fold), shoot P (32%), shoot K (15%), grain N (23%), grain P (51%), grain K (27%), grain yield (51%) and straw yield (66%), over control. In conclusion, A. faecalis proved more effective as compared to the B. amyloliquefaciens. Both the PGPR strains, B. amyloliquefaciens and A. faecalis have potential to improve maize growth and yield when applied in combination with BGS under saline sodic condition.