Influence of Entomopathogenic Fungi Beauveria bassiana on Growth and Yield of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

AbstractTwo experiments were conducted on the influence of entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria bassiana UHSB-END1 (University of Horticultural Sciences Bagalkot – Endophytic1) on growth and yield of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) during December 2023 to May 2024 at the vegetable science block, University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot. The experiment I was laid out in a completely randomized design having five treatments (T1 - Soaking seeds for 2 hrs, T2 - Soaking seeds for 6 hrs, T3 - Soaking seeds for 12 hrs, T4 - Soaking seeds for 24 hrs, T5 – Control) with four replications. The experiment II was laid out in randomized complete block design having ten treatments (T1 - Seed treatment, T2 - Seedling root dip, T3 - Soil drenching, T4 - Foliar spray, T5 - Seed treatment + Seedling root dip + Soil drenching, T6 - Seed treatment + Seedling root dip + Foliar spray, T7 - Seed treatment + Soil drenching + Foliar spray, T8 - Seedling root dip + Soil drenching + Foliar spray, T9 - Seed treatment + Seedling root dip + Soil drenching + Foliar spray, T10 – Control) with three replications. The experiments were conducted to study the impact of B. bassiana UHSB-END1 on growth and development of tomato seedlings and fruit yield. The result showed that the seeds soaked with B. bassiana for 12 hrs (T3) showed the best results. They had a 100 per cent germination rate and seedling survivability with desirable seedlings length and seedling dry matter in experiment I. The highest plant height (48.92, 57.30, 63.82 and 67.34 cm) and leaf chlorophyll (52.51, 50.52, 39.82 and 29.04 SPAD) content showed in the treatment T7 - seed treatment + soil drenching + foliar spray and total dry matter (3878.33 kg/ha) at final harvest, leaf area (29.75, 32.87, 35.04 and 35.50 cm2) in the treatment T6 - seed treatment + seedling root dip treatment + foliar spray at 30, 60, 90 DAT and at final harvest of tomato respectively. The maximum yield attributes like fruit volume (67.34 cm3), fruit diameter (69.17 mm) and fruit weight (70.23 g), the highest yield per ha (56.32 t) showed notable results in the treatment T6 - seed treatment + seedling root dip treatment + foliar spray were observed in experiment II.