Selection of effective Rhizobium isolates of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) from Bilaspur and Mungeli districts of Chhattisgarh Plain region

The study was conducted at Instructional farm, Barrister Thakur Chhedilal College of Agriculture and Research Station, Bilaspur (C.G.), aiming to study the “Selection of effective Rhizobium isolates of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) from Bilaspur and Mungeli Districts of Chhattisgarh Plain Region”. The experiment was laid out in Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with 12 treatments, replicated three times. The study assessed the performance of Rhizobium seed priming on chickpea growth under pot soil conditions (Unsterilized soil). Treatment with isolate 4 (T2) resulted in superior plant height (18.20 cm, 26.67 cm and 34.10 cm) 30, 45 and 55 DAS respectively, fresh shoot weight (g/plant) (23.55 g/plant), dry shoot weight (g/plant) (6.01 g/plant), Rhizobium population dynamics (5.29 X 104 and 6.19 X 104), no. of nodules/plant (17.66), fresh weight of nodules (285.17 mg/plant), dry weight of nodules (mg/plant) (113.12 mg/plant), N content (1.35%) and N uptake (8.11 mg/plant) compared to un-inoculated control (T12) at different growth stages. Isolate 4 consistently showed the best performance in terms of plant height, shoot weight, nodule parameters, Rhizobial population and N uptake at 55 DAS stages. Therefore, this isolate is recommended as the most effective inoculant for chickpea cultivation in the region.