Effect of rhizobacterium on growth, yield and quality of Strawberry

The present investigation was carried out to study the co-inoculation effect of effective rhizospheric bacteria on growth, yield and quality of strawberry cv. Chandler during the year 2017–18. The strawberry plants were treated with rhizospheric bacteria i.e. Pseudomonas strains namely, CP109 and CPS67 and Bacillus strains namely HCA61, RCA3 and SYB101, whereas untreated soil served as control. The growth, yield and quality of fruits were significantly influenced by rhizospheric bacteria. Among different treatment, treatment T₄ (CP109 + HCA61) recorded the significantly highest fruit yield per plant (257.92 g). The growth parameters, viz. plant height (14.11 cm), number of leaves per plant (12.34), crown diameter (13.21 mm), fresh weight (45.89 g) and dry weight(13.11 g) of plant maximum in treatment combination CP109+ HCA61,whereas the bacterial inoculations did not affect plant spread, fruit weight, fruit size and moisture content % in strawberry. However, with respect to TSS (%), Ascorbic acid and anthocyanin content (mg 100 g⁻¹) of fruits Bacillus HCA61+ Pseudomonas CP109 was found best. The co-inoculation with Bacillus and Pseudomonas strains could be an ecofriendly and cost effective technology for improving the growth, yield and quality of strawberry.