Effect of biofertilizer consortium on yield, quality and soil health of french bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

An experiment was carried out during 2014–2015 at the Experimental Farm, Department of Horticulture, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat to study the effect of biofertilizer consortium on yield, quality and soil health of french bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design (RBD) with seven treatments and replicated thrice. The treatments were T₁: FYM 20 t/ha+ NPK @ 30: 40: 20 kg/ha (RDF), T₂: Enriched compost @ 3 t/ha, T₃: Enriched compost @ 3 t/ha + Consortium, T₄: Vermicompost @ 3 t/ha, T₅: Vermicompost @ 5 t/ha, T₆: Vermicompost @ 2.5 t/ha+ Consortium and T₇: Consortium(Rhizobium + Azotobacter + Azospirillum + PSB). The performance of french bean was greatly influenced by different treatments. Application of recommended dose of fertilizer in T₁ recorded significantly higher yield attributing characters viz., pod/plant (28.57), pod length (15.07 cm), pod girth (0.96cm), seed/pod (6.73), pod yield(11.27 t/ha) and harvest index (67.67%) respectively. Similarly, T₁ also recorded minimum dry matter content (6.87%); crude fibre content (7.15%) and maximum crude protein content (22.63%). Among the organic treatments, T₃ reflected the maximum for all the yield attributing characters which was closure with T₁; while T₄ recorded significantly maximum ascorbic acid content (11.67 mg 100g/FW). Further, T₃ also recorded the best for soil parameters viz., bulk density(0.83 g/cm³), pH(5.33), P₂O₅ (47.40 kg/ha), microbial biomass carbon(630.33#g/g/24h), dehydrogenase activity (711.50 #g TPF/g/24h) and phosphomonoesterase activity (442.43#g p-nitrophenol/g/h) respectively. T₅ recorded highest organic carbon (0.68%); while T₁ also revealed maximum N and K (220.56 and 119.31kg/ha) content.