Response of Bt cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) to liquid bio-fertilizer consortiawith varied levels of major nutrients

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted at Agriculture Research Station, Dharwad, Karnataka, India during kharif 2018and 2019 to study the effect of nutrient levels and liquid bio fertilizer consortia on growth, yield and economics of Bt cotton.Experiment was laid out with three main plots comprising nutrient levels and five sub plots comprising bio fertilizerconsortia in split plot design with recommended practice as check and replicated thrice. Application of 100 % recommendednutrients (100:50:50 NPK kg ha-1) recorded higher number of bolls per plant (38.04) and sympodial branches per plant atfinal picking (21.58) as compared to application of 80% and 60 % recommended nutrients. Rhizosphere consortia-II +Phyllosphere consortia at 50, 70 and 90 DAS recorded higher plant height (114.8 cm), sympodial branches per plant (19.77).Significantly higher seed cotton yield to an extent of 16.4 per cent higher gross returns, net returns and benefit cost ratio were(`1,29,579 ha-1, `67,365 ha-1 and 2.08, respectively) were recorded with the application of 100 % recommended nutrients(100:50:50 NPK kg ha-1) along with Rhizosphere consortia-II + Phyllosphere consortia at 50, 70 and 90 DAS