Abstract

The present investigation was undertaken to study the response of agronomic traits of wheat to different planting dates and liquid inoculants of Azotobacter sp. and Streptomyces badius by mitigating the impact of climate change. The field experiment was conducted at Regional Research Station, Bathinda, Punjab during two consecutive years. The main plots treatment consisted of five planting dates (25th October, 10th November, 25th November, 10th December and 25th December) and four liquid inoculant treatments (T1: 100% RDF (control), T2: 100% RDF+seed bacterization with liquid inoculants, T3: 75% RDF+seed bacterization with liquid inoculants and T4: 75% RDF+seed bacterization with liquid inoculants+foliar application of liquid inoculants at critical stages of wheat) in sub-plots. The treatments of 20 combinations were tested in split plot design with three replications. Maximum plant height, effective spike length, grains per spike, 1000-grain weight and highest grain yield were attained by the crop planted on 10th November. Amongst the liquid inoculant treatments, T4 treatment was found superior in all growth and yield attributing parameters at each date of planting followed by T3, T2 and T1. The T4, T3 and T1 treatments resulted in 4.79, 3.47 and 1.61% more grain yield over T1. Thus, it can be concluded that liquid inoculants of Azotobacter sp. and S. badius can enhance growth and yield of wheat by mitigating the impact of climate change. This combination may be used as an efficient PGPR for wheat production.