Microbial inoculants and organic amendments facilitate cutting establishment of dragon fruit (Selenicereus spp.) through enhanced microbial populations and activities

• Organic amendments and microbial inoculants improved dragon fruit cutting survival. • Vermicompost + Bacillus amyloliquefaciens gave 100 % sprouting in red pulp type. • Neem cake + AM fungi/Actino Plus enhanced rooting and enzyme activity in white pulp. Dragon fruit ( Selenicereus spp.) is an emerging high-value crop known for its nutritional benefits, adaptability to marginal environments, and growing global demand. To enhance its sustainable propagation, an experiment was conducted in 2023–2024 to evaluate the effects of soil microbial inoculants and organic amendments. Five organic amendments (T1-T5) and four microbial inoculants (S2-S5) were tested in a factorial completely randomized design on red and white pulp cultivars of dragon fruit. The results revealed significant cultivar-specific responses in shoot and root growth traits. In red pulp type, the highest number of shoots and fresh shoot biomass were observed in T2S5 (Vermicompost + Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain P-72 ) and T2S3 (Vermicompost + Arka Actino Plus ) respectively . In white pulp type, the highest number of shoots and fresh shoot biomass were recorded in T1S5 (Conventional practice + Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain P-72 ) and T5S3 (Pongamia cake + Arka Actino Plus) respectively. The highest number of roots were recorded in T4S4 (Neem cake + AM fungi) and T1S5 (Conventional practice + Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain P-72 ) in red and white pulped type respectively. The treatment T2S4 (Vermicompost + AM fungi) achieved 100 % sprouting in both cultivars. Multivariate analyses (heatmap, PCA, and correlation) confirmed these trends. In the red pulped cultivar treatments T2S5, T2S4, and T2S3 clustered with favourable traits including shoot length, soil microbial populations and enzyme activities. In the white pulped cultivar, neem cake-based treatments (T4S1, T4S2, T4S4) were more effective, particularly for soil microbial and β-glucosidase activities. Correlation analysis highlighted strong positive associations between propagation success and root traits, microbial activity, and enzyme levels in both cultivars, while mortality was negatively correlated with all traits ( r = -0.6 to -1.0). The results underscore the genotype-specific requirement of organic-microbial inputs. These findings offer a sustainable and bio-intensive nursery management strategy to enhance rooting, sprouting success, and early vigor in dragon fruit.