EFFECT OF BIOFERTILIZERS (AZATOBACTER AND AZOSPIRILLUM) ALONE AND IN COMBINATION WITH REDUCED LEVELS OF NITROGEN ON COST AND RETURNS OF CAULIFLOWER

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1 EFFECT OF BIOFERTILIZERS (AZATOBACTER AND AZOSPIRILLUM) ALONE AND IN COMBINATION WITH REDUCED LEVELS OF NITROGEN ON COST AND RETURNS OF CAULIFLOWER P. B. Sable 1, Assistant Professor, Dept of Horticulture, SSAC, Amravati. N.V. Maldhure 2 Head, Dept. of Horticulture, SSAC, Amravati. K.G. Thakur 3 Associate Professor Department of Horticulture Shri. Shivaji Agriculture college, Amravati ABSTRACT An experiment was conducted during rabi season of involving three levels of nitrogen (0,100 and 75% nitrogen) with four levels of biofertilizers (no inoculation, Azospirillum, Azotobacter and Azotobacter + Azospirillum). Out of the twelve treatment combinations, the best treatment was T 12 (N 2B 3) i.e. 75 percent nitrogen (120 kg ha -1 ) + Azotobacter + Azospirillum which significantly influenced curd yield (400.00qha -1 ) and give maximum net returns (96,830.6 Rs ha -1 ) with B:C ratio of (Keywords:- Biofertilizers, nitrogen levels, cost, returns, cauliflower) INTRODUCTION Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.) is one of the most important winter vegetable among the Cole crops. It is having great demand on account of its delicious taste due to abortive floral parts which are freshly and closely crowded, are used for culinary purposes either alone or mixed with other vegetables. To obtain maximum yield in vegetable crops, farmers are repeatedly using chemical fertilizers. As a consequences of continuous use of chemical fertilizers, farmers are facing the problem of soil deterioration. Therefore, the current trend is of organic farming using organic fertilizers like biofertilizers of microbial origin with limited use of chemical fertilizers. Application of Azospirillum and Azotabacter inoculation in vegetable crops has been of much significance because they not only fix atmospheric nitrogen but also produce growth promoting and antifungal substances. Hence keeping in view these facts, the present investigation was undertaken to explore the effect of Azotobacter and Azospirillum with reduced levels of nitrogen on cost and returns of cauliflower. 235

2 METHODOLOGY The experiment was conducted at main farm, Department of Horticulture, Marathwada Agricultural University, Parbhani in Factorial Randomized Block Design with twelve treatment combinations having three replications. There were three levels of nitrogen i.e. 0, 100 and 75 percent nitrogen (symbolized as No, N 1 and N 2 respectively) and four levels of biofertilizers i.e. no inoculation, Azospirillum, Azotobacter and Azotobacter + Azospirillum inoculation (Symbolized as B 0, B 1, B 2 and B 3 respectively). Before transplanting, seedlings were dipped in slurry of biofertilizers for 10 minutes. Uniform and healthy one month old seedling of cauliflower cv. Snowball-16 were transplanted in November with a spacing of 60cm x 45cm. The plot had a gross area of 3.0mx 2.7m and net area of 2.4m x 1.8m. Fertilizer dose applied was 160kg N + 80 Kg P 2O kg K 2O ha -1. Half dose of nitrogen is given according to treatment level i.e. 100 percent and 75 percent nitrogen in the recommended dose. Remaining half dose of nitrogen was given one month after transplanting i.e. at earthing up. 10 tonnes ha -1 was applied at field preparation. Observations on curd yield were recorded and economics of use of biofertilizers in cauliflower crop was calculated on the basis of cost of culture plus cost of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium applied under corresponding treatment with common expenditure incurred as per treatments and then compared with individual treatment. Profit and loss was calculated on the basis of yield obtained. Cost of cultivation ha -1 was calculated. Data were analysed as per Panse and Sukhatme (1985). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Economics of Biofertilizers : The marginal analysis of various treatments and their effect on cost and returns of cauliflower has been given in Table-1. From the table 1, it was found that maximum net returns (96,830.6 Rs ha -1 ) was obtained under treatment T 12 (N 2B 3) i.e. 75 percent N+Azotobacter + Azospirillum followed by treatment T 11 (72,515.5 Rs ha -1 ) i.e. N 1B 3 with B:C ratio of 4.17 and 4.07, respectively. Whereas, the minimum net return was obtained under treatment T 1 (control) i.e. 26,368.1 Rs ha -1 with B:C ratio of An increase in the percent returns over control in treatment combination N 2B 3 over rest of the treatment combinations was due to increased yield in this treatment and relative lower cost incurred. Similar results were also obtained by Bhagavantagoudra and Rokhade (2002) in Cabbage, Wange and Kale (2004) in brinjal Sharma (2002) in cabbage. Cost of Cultivation of Cauliflower : Cost of cultivation of cauliflower for 1 ha -1 area was calculated and has been given in Table 2. Total cost of cultivation of cauliflower was found to be Rs.19, ha- 1. Actual cost of cultivation of cauliflower was Rs.17, ha -1. CONCLUSION From the above investigation it is concluded that treatment of Azatobacter + Azospirillum seedling inoculation supplemented with 75% of the recommended dose were equally effective for getting maximum yield of cauliflower with that of 236

3 recommended dose of nitrogenous fertilizers with high B:C ratio. Thus there is a saving of 25% nitrogen in getting maximum yield of cauliflower. REFERENCES Bhagavantagoudra, K.H. and A. K. Rokhade (2002). Effect of Azospirillum and nitrogen on growth and yield of Cabbage. Karnataka J. Agric. Sci.14(3) : Panse, V.G. and P.N. Sukhatme (1985). Statistical method for agricultural workers, ICAR, New Delhi, PP Sharma, S. K. (2002). Effect of Azospirillum, Azotobacter and nitrogen on growth and yield of Cabbage. Indian J. Agric. Sci., 72(9); Wange S.S. and R.H. Kale (2004). Effect of biofertilizers under graded nitrogen levels on brinjal crop, J.Soil and Crop, 14(1);

4 Table-1 : Marginal analysis of various treatments and their effect on cost and returns of cauliflower. Treat- Inputs Cost of inputs Total Cost of Yield ments N P K Biof. (g) Urea SSP MOP Biof. Cost Cultivation Including Cost of inputs (q/ha) Market Price (Rs./q) Gross Returns (R/ha) Net Returns (Rs./ha) T T T T T T T T T T T T Cost of cultivation of cauliflower was found to be Rs /ha. B:C ratio 238

5 Table-2 : Cost of cultivation of cauliflower for 1 ha. Sr. No. Head of Expenditure Total Cost I Preparation of land 3, II Cost of manures 4, III Cost of fertilizer application IV Cost of seed, sowing and transplanting 3, V Cost of irrigations (11) 1, VI Cost of interculture operations 2, VII Plant protection measures 1, VIII Watching charges IX Harvesting 1, X Land revenue XI Depreciation cost of implements XII Transport and Marketing Actual Cost 17, XIII Supervision 10% of actual cost 1, XIV Interest on working 18% per annum for 3 months Total Cost 19,