IJCRR

IJCRR - 4(17), September, 2012

Pages: 15-22

Date of Publication: 14-Sep-2012

INFLUENCE OF MICROBIAL INOCULATION ON PLANT HEIGHT OF BLUE PINE (PINUS WALLICHIANA) AND HIMALAYAN CYPRESS (CUPRESSUS TORULOSA) UNDER NURSERY CONDITIONS

Author: Malik A. A, Zargar M .Y, Najar G. R, Mir S. A Agha F

Category: Healthcare

Abstract:A pot experiment was carried out during 2009 -2010 to study the impact of microbial inoculants on plant
height of Blue pine (Pinus wallichiana A.B. Jackson) and Himalayan cypress (Cupressus torulosa Don) under nursery conditions. The experiment was laid in Completely Randomized Design with three replications which comprised forty-two treatment combinations of seven inoculants (Azotobacter sp., Azospirillum sp., Pseudomonas fluorescens, Bacillus subtilis, Pisolithus tinctorius, Laccaria laccata and control). The growth character viz., plant height at various intervals responded significantly to all the microbial inoculants. Maximum plant height was recorded in Himalayan cypress (38.72 cm) as compared
to Blue pine seedlings (24.78 cm). Among microbial inoculants the two ectomycorrhizae viz., Pisolithus tinctorius and Laccaria laccata gave best results than rest of the inoculants. It was followed by Azotobacter sp., Azospirillum sp., Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus subtillis. Thus the two treatments viz., Pisolithus tinctorius and Laccaria laccata proved to be the best for the studied parameter
viz., plant height of both the species.

Keywords: Pinus wallichiana, Cupressus torulosa, Microbial inoculation, Azotobacter, Azospirillum, Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Pisolithus, Laccaria

Full Text:

INTRODUCTION
The geographical area of Jammu and Kashmir is 1,01,387 km2 excluding the area under Pakistan and China with recorded forest area of 20,230 km2 inside line of control. However, recorded forest cover as per Forest Survey of India is only 16,309 km2 (Anonymous, 2009a). Commercial forests of the state occupy only 8,26,939 ha (Anonymous, 2005). As per inventory records, very dense forests in Jammu and Kashmir occupy 2,95,800 ha, moderately dense 6,50,700 ha, open forests have now spread over 6,84,400 ha and rest of the recorded forests have been engulfed by blanks and scrubs (Anonymous, 2009b). The growing stock of our commercial forests is 132.9 million m3 with average annual yield of 1.65 m3 ha-1 (Anonymous, 2009b). With this productivity annual yield of timber from commercial forest area alone must be 27.25 million cubic feet. Contrary to this fact, we presently import timber. Due to timber mining more than 60 per cent of our demarcated forests have been declared as uncommercial/degraded (Anonymous, 2005). Natural regeneration does not practically take place in forests where crown density is less than 40 per cent. Relying on natural succession, it will take us hundreds of years to regenerate the degraded forests to climax stage with species like Pinus wallichiana Jackson (kail), Cedrus deodara (Roxb.), G. Don (Deodar), Abies pindrow Spach (silver fir), Picea smithiana Wall. (spruce) and Cupressus torulosa Don (Himalayan cypress) which dominate vegetation of our forests.To meet the huge demand and supply of timber, fuelwood and firewood, raising of blue pine and Himalayan cypress forests on degraded forest patches can be a good and viable option in future. The indiscriminate use of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides is neither environmentally safe nor economically feasible. There is pressing demand for microbial inoculants for quality seedling production in nursery and also the establishment of plantation to increase the forest productivity. Bioinoculants are cost effective, ecofriendly, cheaper and renewable sources of plant nutrients and play a vital role in maintaining long-term soil fertility and sustainability. Thus, to meet the challenges like poor regeneration, deforestation and spread of wastelands, introduction of microbial inoculants at the nursery stage of forest trees has become inevitable. Although various aspects of mycorrhizal impact of the forest trees have been studied, no work has been done on the impact of other microbial inoculants on the regeneration of forest trees. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to determine the role of microbial inoculation on growth attribute viz.,plant height of Blue pine and Himalayan cypress under nursery conditions. MATERIALS AND METHOD The present investigations were undertaken at the Forest Nursery of Department of Forestry, Faculty of Agriculture and Regional Research Station, SKUAST-Kashmir, Wadura, Sopore during 2009- 2010.Microbial inoculants isolated from rhizosphere of blue pine and Himalayan cypress forest stands were used in the studies. Mass production of microbial inoculants The two free living aerobic nitrogen fixing bacteria viz., Azotobacter sp. and Azospirillum sp. were mass cultured using nutrient medium enriched with glucose and peptone. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) viz., Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus subtilis were mass propagated in King?s B nutrient broth. The two ectomycorrhizae viz., Pisolithus tinctorius and Laccaria laccata were mass multiplied in Melin Norkran?s nutrient broth and Potato Dextrose Agar, respectively. Field operations For the microbial inoculation, one year old seedlings of blue pine and Himalayan cypress of uniform heights and collar diameter growing in polyethylene bags (9? x 7?) containing 1 kg potting material of soil and sand mixture in the ratio of 1:1 were selected. Microbial inoculation For inoculation, the different broth cultures of Nfixers, P-solubilizers and ectomycorrhizal inoculants isolated from local forest stands were applied to the potting material (25 ml/seedling) in the month of March, 2010, without disturbing the root system of the seedlings. Nursery operations The seedlings were irrigated with rose-cans as and when needed and maintained virtually weed free by manual weeding Plant growth measurement The growth parameter viz., plant height (cm) of both the species were measured by using measuring tape at an interval of 2 months upto 12 months.The plant height of the seedlings at the initial stage of the experiment were also recorded. Statistical analysis The data was statistically analysed by using O.P Stat software developed by Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Plant height The data on impact of various microbial inoculants on plant height of Blue pine seedlings indicates that mean plant height was significantly more in response to various treatments as compared to control (Table-1;Fig 1, Plate-1). Azotobacter and Azospirillum inoculation exhibited 37.17 and 36.83 per cent more plant height over control. Similarly Pseudomonas flourescens and Bacillus subtilis inoculation resulted in 35.56 and 33.91 per cent more plant height while as the inoculation with two ectomycorrhizal fungi viz., Pisolithus tinctorius and Laccaria laccata resulted in 42.97 and 40.77 per cent more plant height as compared to control respectively. However, the application of Pisolithus tinctorius showed maximum increase (42.97%) in plant height over control, thus proved superior over all the individual inoculants. Moreover, there was an increasing trend in plant height from April to October and from December onwards till February there was a slight increase. The interactions between inocula and months were significant till October and from December to February it was non-significant. Perusal of the data presented in Table-2,Fig 2,Plate-1 shows that the application of various microbial inoculants significantly enhanced the mean plant height of the Himalayan cypress seedlings as compared to control. Amongst various microbial inoculants, Pisolithus tinctorius resulted in maximum increase in plant height over control (38.27 %). It was followed by Laccaria laccata (35.66%), Azotobacter sp. (28.29%), Azospirillum sp. (25.91%), Pseudomonas fluorescens (21.76%) and Bacillus subtilis (19.36%), respectively. Treatment of seedlings with ectomycorrhizal fungi viz., Pisolithus tinctorius was significantly superior over all other treatments. Plant height revealed a significant increase from April to October and from October on wards till February there was a slight increase. Moreover, the interactions between inocula and month?s were significant till October and thereafter it was non-significant. The increase in shoot height by P. tinctorius and L. laccata could be attributed to the production of growth promoting substances like auxins (Dehn, 1982) and enhancement of water absorption and nutrient mobilization (Dar et al., 1997) by vastly increased surface area network of the fungal mycelia (Myer, 1992). In case of Azotobacter and Azospirillum sp. inoculation the increase in shoot height could be ascribed to nitrogen fixing ability, synthesis of growth promoting substances like cytokinens, gibberellins, auxins (Reynders and Vlassak, 1979; Hartmann et al., 1983; Jain and Patriquin, 1985) and production of antifungal antibiotics (Chahal and Chahal, 1988). However, increase in shoot height by inoculation with Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus subtilis could be through iron chelating siderophores (Schippers, 1988) by releasing phytohormones, solubilizing P and reduction in population of deleterious microorganisms (Weller, 1988). Further our findings are in close conformity with the results of Oh and Park (1989), Jeffries and Dodd (1991), Natarajan et al. (1995) who reported that P. tinctorius and L. laccata inoculation resulted in enhancement of plant height of Acaccia nilotica, Quercus serrata, Eucalyptus camaldulensis and E. deglupta seedlings respectively. similarly, the enhancement in plant height with respect to Azotobacter and Azospirillum sp. has also been reported in Quercus serrata (Pandey et al., 1986) in peach (Awasthi et al., 1996). Moreover, the inoculation of clover plants with Pseudomonas putida has also been reported to enhance the plant height (Meyer and Linderman, 1986). However, the maximum increase in shoot height of Himalayan cypress seedlings lies in the fact that Himalayan cypress being a fast growing species, has got an efficient root system as compared to kail which is comparatively a slow growing species. Moreover, the gradual decline in plant height of both the species in the later half of study period could be due to below freezing soil temperatures and short growing season of conifers.

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