AGRONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF SUNFLOWER AS INFLUENCED BY SULPHUR NUTRITION AND SULPHUR OXIDISING MICROORGANISMS

VISHWAJIT KOKARE¹*, ASHOK KADLAG², SANGRAM KALE³, SANJAY TODMAL^4
1Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, Dist. Ahmednagar, 413722, Maharashtra, India
²Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, Dist. Ahmednagar, 413722, Maharashtra, India
³Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, Dist. Ahmednagar, 413722, Maharashtra, India
⁴Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, Dist. Ahmednagar, 413722, Maharashtra, India
* Corresponding Author : vishukokare9354@gmail.com

Received : 09-01-2016     Accepted : 12-01-2017     Published : 28-01-2017
Volume : 9     Issue : 1       Pages : 842 - 846
Int J Microbiol Res 9.1 (2017):842-846

Keywords : Sulphur oxidising microorganisms, inceptisol, Thiobacillusferroxidans, Thiobacillusthiooxidans, Aspergillus awamori, Aspergillus niger
Academic Editor : Varun Saini
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : We acknowledge the help and contribution of all the scientists and staff who have been associated with these experiment. The authors are highly thankful to Dr. A. L. Pharande for his comments and suggestions in improving the manuscript
Author Contribution : None declared

Field experiment was conducted during kharif 2014 at STCR Farm, M.P.K.V., Rahuri (Maharashtra). Twenty treatment combinations consists of four levels of sulphur (0, 15, 30 and 45 kg S ha-1 respectively) and five sulphur oxidizing microorganisms (Thiobacillus thiooxidans, Thiobacillus ferroxidans, Aspergillus awamori, Aspergillus niger and consortium respectively) were laid out in Factorial randomized block design with three replications. The sulphur application @ 45 kg ha-1 to kharif sunflower significantly increased seed and oil yield (19.89 q ha-1 and 812.48 kg ha-1).The yield contributing characters of sunflower viz., number of leaves, leaf area, plant height, head diameter, number of filled, unfilled and total grain per capitulum were significantly influenced by the 45 kg ha-1 sulphur application. Thiobacillus ferroxidans sulphur oxidising microorganism was found beneficial for all the yield attributing characters except number of unfilled grains per capitulum. The interaction effects were significant.