Appraisal of seed priming with liquid microbial inoculants on growth and yield attributes of forage cowpea

Inadequate and nutritionally unbalanced supply of forage results in low productivity of livestock. There is an urgent need of burgeoning forage supply by amalgamating organic and inorganic components in integrated manner. Thereupon, the present investigation was carried out to evaluate the potential of liquid microbial inoculants on growth and yield of forage cowpea. The field experiments were conducted during kharif season (2018) at Punjab Agricultural University, Regional Research Station, Bathinda and Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab respectively. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with a total of eleven treatment combinations of liquid microbial inoculants (Burkholderia seminalis, Burkholderia sp. and Bradyrhizobium sp.) with 75% and 100% RDF and replicated thrice. Results indicated that the treatment T₁₀ (75% RDF + Burkholderia sp. + Burkholderia seminalis) significantly (p<0.05) enhanced vine length (210.47 and 205.33 cm), leaf length (11.77 and 11.53), leaf breadth (8.97 and 9.14 cm) and dry matter yield (40.13 and 38.18 q/ha) at Ludhiana and Bathinda respectively. Moreover, the percentage increase in green fodder yield (q/ha) with T₁₀ treatment over T1 (control) was 13.21% at Ludhiana and 12.50% at Bathinda. Accordingly, it can be concluded that liquid microbial inoculants could play a predominant role in integrated nutrient management of forage cowpea for enhanced productivity.