Department of Botany, University of Kalyani, Kalyani 741 235
In view of the reports that foliar application of diazotrophic bacteria, improves the growth of cereals and spices, oil and fibre-yielding plants and vegetables, experiments were undertaken to study the effect of foliar application of two active strains of Klebsiella - KUPOs and KUPVm, on the growth and yield of banana, papaya and pineapple. Improvement in growth and yield were observed in most cases but the effect observed were less than those observed with 45 kg urea-N/ha. The yield of banana was improved by 2.8–4.8 fold, pineapple by 1.7–2.5 per cent fold and papaya by 100–300 per cent respectively, when treated with these bacteria as compared to the untreated control plants.
