Relative multi-beneficial effect of MOs on plant health of chickpea ( L. var. PG-186).

The phosphate solubilizing properties of ST-30, N-26, and ST-6 were tested for the chickpea crop of the Tarai region of Uttarakhand. These microbially inoculated plants have shown significant ( > 0.05) improvement in the plant health and crop health parameters, , root length, shoot length, fresh weight, dry weight, nodule number, nodule fresh weight, nodule dry weight, chlorophyll content, and nitrate reductase. The highest shoot length (46.10 cm) and chlorophyll content (0.57 mg g fresh weight) were observed in ST-30 at 75 DAS with 20 kg PO/ha. Similarly, for plant P content, an increase of 90.12% over control was recorded in the same treatment. Treatments consisting of ST-30 along with 20 kg/ha PO were found to be most suitable as phosphatic fertilizer. Conclusively, sustainable agriculture practices in the Tarai as well as the field region may be developed based on a strategy of exploring microbial inoculants from the pristine region of the Western Himalayas. The presence and abundance of bacterial inoculants were confirmed through qRT-PCT. We conclude that the effective plant growth-promoting bacterium ST-30 broadens the spectrum of phosphate solubilizers available for field applications and might be used together with 20 Kg/ha PO.