Impact of bacterial consortium on plant growth development, fruit yield and disease resistance in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)
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Abstract
Abstract. Mir RA, Ahmad MK, Bhat KR. 2023. Impact of bacterial consortium on plant growth development, fruit yield and disease resistance in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Asian J Trop Biotechnol 20: 1-9. Agriculture plays an important role in the economic development of a country. However, using traditional fertilizers, disease resistance, and scarcity of nutrients have led to huge losses in plant productivity worldwide. Bacillus (Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus siamensis) are cosmopolitan species widely used as Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR). This genus may be used along with other biocompatible microbes, including Azotobacter and Trichoderma, which can be used as consortia microbes as biofertilizers. However, the doubt remains in farmers' minds whether these biofertilizers completely replace chemical fertilizers. To gain insight into this doubt and clarify it, our study in this article is based on using Bio-NPK as an alternative to chemical fertilizers and Trichoderma viride as a bio-control agent. The bacterial strains and T. viride used in this experiment were isolated from GloBils organic farm. The plant growth parameters were measured after every 15 days. Fruit yield, weight, size, root length, root biomass, and shoot biomass were measured and compared with the control. Data analysis revealed a considerable difference between Bio-NPK-treated plants and chemical NPK-treated plants; further, a considerable difference is found in pots treated with Bio-NPK and Trichoderma. The Bio-NPK and Trichoderma showed higher disease resistance, stress tolerance, root development, biomass, and crop yield than chemical NPK. This study shows that Bio-NPK immunizes plants by re-organizing root development. At the same time, rhizobacteria stimulate defense response and simultaneously protect themselves from diseases.