Bioaugmentation of Mesorhizobium cicer, Pseudomonas spp. and Piriformospora indica for Sustainable Chickpea Production.

Chickpea establishes symbiotic association with Mesorhizobium to fulfill its nitrogen (N) requirement. Integrating chickpea rhizosphere with potential native mesorhizobia and other plant growth promoting microorganisms can contribute multiple benefits to plants. The present investigation was undertaken to study interactions among Piriformospora indica (PI) with potential plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) viz. Pseudomonas argentinensis (LPGPR1), Pseudomonas sp. (LPGPR2) along with national check Pseudomons sp. (LK884) and Mesorhizobium cicer (LGR33, MR) to examine the synergistic effect of consortium for improving growth, symbiotic efficiency, nutrient acquisition and yield in two chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) varieties viz. desi PBG1 and kabuli BG1053. In-vitro, seed germination with consortium MR + PI + LPGPR1 was the best compatible treatment followed by MR + PI + LK884 and MR + PI + LPGPR2. Significant improvement in the growth, symbiotic parameters and grain yield was observed with MR + PI + LPGPR1 and MR + PI + LK884 treatments. Significantly high chlorophyll and leghaemoglobin content was recorded with MR + PI + LPGPR1 (1.57 and 1.64 mg g(-1) fresh weight of leaves and 5.19 and 4.39 mg/g(-1) fresh weight of nodules) in desi PBG1 and kabuli BG1053 chickpea varieties, respectively. At 90 DAS, MR + PI + LPGPR1 treatment significantly improved nodule dry weight (ranged between 84.0 and 141.7 mg plant(-1)) as compared to MR alone treatment (ranged between 62.3 and 123.3 mg plant(-1)). Data revealed significant increase in total nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) content of shoot with MR + PI + LPGPR1 by 1.2 and 1.5 fold, respectively over MR alone treatment. On the basis of overall mean, MR + PI + LPGPR1 significantly improved the yield by 8.2 % over Mesorhizobium alone application. It seems from foregoing study that tripartite combination of different micro-organisms can be explored as biofertilizer for improvement in chickpea productivity.