Effect of biofertilizers and chemical fertilizers on growth of clonal eucalyptus plantations

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of biofertilizers and chemical fertilizers on growth parameters of clonal eucalyptus under field conditions. Treatments including combinations of six biofertilizers: control (no biofertilizer), consortium (constituted of Azotobacter, PSb and plant growth regulator), phosphorus solubilizing bacteria (PSb), Azotobacter, PAU mycorrhizae and IARI mycorrhizae, and three inorganic nutrient levels viz., 75% of recommended N and recommended P), recommended N and 75% of recommended P (N₁₀₀) and recommended N and P (N₁₀₀) ^(N75^P100^P75^P100 were applied to plants of eucalyptus clone C-413. The differences in diameter at breast height and height of eucalyptus among different types of biofertilizers were not significant. Among the chemical fertilizers, these two parameters were higher in N₁₀₀compared to N₇₅and N₁₀₀ after three years ^P100 ^P100 ^P75 of growth. Concentration of N and P in leaves was lowest in control and highest with consortium application (13.7 and 1.39 g/kg, respectively). It is concluded that biofertilizers should not be applied to clonal eucalyptus where sufficiently high levels of chemical fertilizers have been used.