Scilight Press

A field experiment was conducted during the rabi season of 2022-23 at the Research Farm of the Department of Agronomy, School of Agriculture, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara (Punjab). The experiment followed a randomized block design (RBD) with 10 treatments replicated thrice. The treatments consisted of T₁ (control), T₂ (rhizobium inoculant), T₃ (75% phosphorus+rhizobium), T₄ (75% phosphorus+rhizobium+pseudomonas), T₅ (75% phosphorus+rhizobium+pseudomonas+trichoderma), T₆ (trichoderma inoculant), T₇ (pseudomonas fluorescent inoculant), T₈ (100% phosphorus+rhizobium), T₉ (100% phosphorus+rhizobium+pseudomonas) and T₁₀ (100% phosphorus+rhizobium+pseudomonas+trichoderma). The results indicated that the T₁₀ (100% phosphorus+rhizobium+pseudomonas+trichoderma) led to significant improvement in various growth and yield attributes of chickpea. This treatment exhibited the highest plant height (53.16 cm), maximum number of branches/plant (7.7), maximum number of nodules/plant (59), dry matter accumulation (15.43), maximum number of pods/plant (62.86), maximum number of seeds/pod (1.73), higher seed index (30.37 g), higher seed (18.11 q/ha), higher straw yield (29.54 q/ha) and biological yield (47.65 q/ha). Therefore, to achieve higher yields and maximize economic benefits in chickpea production, it can be suggested that farmers adopt the combined application of Rhizobium, PSB and Trichoderma along with the 100% phosphorus for sustainable crop production.