Endophytic Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria and Yeast from Mahua flower enhance Growth, Yield and Nutrient Uptake in Greengram

Among the collection of non-pathogenic endophytes isolated from the flower of mahua, one bacteria (Bacillus amyloliquefaciens) and two yeasts (Rhodotorula sp. and Pichia kudriavzevii) were selected based on their ability to promote growth of greengram. The response of greengram for the growth, yield and nutrient uptake with the microbial inoculation of these three isolates was analyzed individually and in combination under two different field conditions. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design which revealed that single inoculants of both the yeast isolates with biocompost application found superior than recommended dose of chemical fertilizer. Further, the single inoculation of P. kudriavzevii and Rhodotorula sp. application recorded 31.80 % and 26.93 % more economical and 15.02 % and 12.49 % higher stover yield, respectively than sole biocompost application. The yeast isolates, P. kudriavzevii and Rhodotorula sp. also recorded 1.31 % and 0.15 % increase in harvest index compared to chemical fertilizer and 10.30 % and 9.04 % increase than sole biocompost application, respectively. Data showed that combinations of the bacteria and yeast inoculums had no additional effects with respect to their single inoculation, but showed superior performance compared to uninoculated controls. This study indicates that a single microbial formulation significantly increases the plant growth and yield in comparison with dual and triple inoculums. The single inoculam of P. kudriavzevii showed significantly higher results than in comparison with B. amyloliquefaciens and Rhodotorula sp. Therefore P. kudriavzevii can be a good alternative for chemical fertilizer under South Gujarat region especially for greengram cultivation.