MANAGEMENT OF SALT STRESS IN GROUNDNUT THROUGH UTILIZATION OF BIO-FERTILIZER

Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka during, January to June 2020 for the management of salt stress in groundnut by utilization of Biofertilizer.

The experiment consisted of two factors, and conducted by following Randomized Complete Block Design with four replications. Factor A: comprised of four types of biofertilizer viz; B 0 = Control, B 1 = BARI Rhizobium RA -803 (Salt sensitive), B 2 = BARI Rhizobium RA h -808 (Salt tolerant), B 3 h = Mycorrhiza, and Factor B consisted four levels of salinity viz; S 0 = Control, S 1 = 50 mM NaCl, S 2 = 100 mM NaCl and S = 150 mM NaCl. Different growth and yield parameters were observed for assessing the effect of salinity and role of biofertilizer to manage salt stress. Exposure of salinity decreased growth and yield of groundnut and the level of reduction increased with the increment of salinity. Application of 50, 100 and 150 mM NaCl decreased seed yield by 57, 83 and 96% respectively. Application of biofertilizer increased growth and yield of groundnut both in control and saline conditions. Under 50 mM NaCl treatment, the use of BARI Rhizobium RAh-803, BARI Rhizobium RAh-808, and Mycorrhiza increased seed yield (134, 401, and 280%, respectively) and stover yield (43, 61, and 65%, respectively) over the control treatment. Application of biofertilizer also reversed salt induced damages in groundnut under 100 and 150 mM salinity in same way. Among the biofertilizers, BARI Rhizobium RA -808 recovered salt induced damages through increasing growth, pod number, seed number, 100-seed weight as well as seed yield and stover yield. Growth and yield of groundnut decreased with increasing salinity levels. However application of biofertilizer manage salinity, by reducing salt induced damages. Among them, application of BARI Rhizobium RAh-808 (Salt tolerant) as a biofertilizer might be a suitable approach to groundnut cultivation under salt stress conditions.