Influence of Biofertilizers on Early Stage Seedling Growth, Biomass and Vigour of Anthocephalus cadamba (Roxb.) Miq.

The present investigation was conducted to know the influence of biofertilizers on seedling growth and vigour in Anthocephalus cadamba (Roxb.) Miq., for which it was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design with three repetitions and seven biofertilizer treatments. An application of VAM @ 10 ml plant^-1 exhibited significantly maximum collar diameter (9.62 mm), root length (33.04 cm) and found at par with Azospirillum @ 10 ml plant^-1 at 150 DAT. However, Azospirillum @ 10 ml plant^-1 exhibited maximum shoot length (80.52 cm), number of leaves per plant (13.33) and total leaf area (cm²) per plant (1770.29 cm²), and found at par with VAM @ 10 ml plant^-1 having 76.50 cm, 13.25, 1692.92 cm² for same growth characters of A. cadamba seedlings at 150 DAT. Further, VAM @ 10 ml plant^-1 produced significantly maximum fresh weight, dry weight and seedling quality index of 96.58 g, 19.67 g and 1.77, respectively whereas the maximum root to shoot ratio of 0.33 and the lowest improved sturdiness quotient of 7.53 were observed in seedlings treated with Pseudomonas @ 10 ml plant^-1, which was statistically at par with VAM @ 10 ml plant^-1 at 150 DAT. Overall result showed that application of VAM @ 10 ml plant^-1 improved the growth and vigour of A. cadamba seedlings, so this treatment can be used for raising and production of good quality seedlings in the forest nursery.