EFFECT OF BENEFICIAL MICROBES (BM) ON THE EFFICIENCY OF ORGANIC AND INORGANIC N FERTILIZERS ON WHEAT CROP

A field experiment with two factors i.e. wheat varieties and fertilizers treatments was carried out to investigate the integrated effect of organic, inorganic fertilizers and beneficial microbes (BM) on wheat during 2008-09 and 2009- 10 using randomized complete block design with four replications. Wheat varieties were Uqab (V1) and Fakhar-e- Sarhad (V2) and fertilizer treatments were control (T1), full dose of N (120 kg N ha^-1) from urea (T2), half (60 kg N ha-1) of recommended N (T3), ½ N from urea + ½ N from FYM (T4), ½ N from urea + ½ N from PM (T5), ½ N from urea + ½ from (FYM+PM) (T6), ½ N from urea + BM (T7), ½ N from urea + ½ N from FYM + BM (T8), ½ N from urea + ½ N from PM + BM (T9), and ½ N from urea + ½ N from FYM + PM + BM (T10). Beneficial microbes comprised of lactic acid bacteria, photosynthetic bacteria, yeasts, fermenting fungi and actinomycetes applied at the rate of 25-liter ha^-1 in two-splits, half with 1st irrigation and half with 3rd irrigation. Significant (P≤0.05) effect of fertilizer treatments on all the parameters was noted; maximum number of tillers (345 m^-2), plant height (91.6 cm), leaf area (23.6 cm^2) were recorded in treatments receiving ½ N from urea + ½ N from FYM + BM while the highest days to emergence (12) were recorded in control treatment. Comparing the relevant treatments with and without BM, an increasing trend was noted in all the parameters with the application of BM.