Microbial Inoculants for Enhancing the Biochemical Properties of Withania somnifera Variety Jawahar 20
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Author:H. Gopal and T. Natarajan
p-ISSN:0024-9602, e-ISSN:2582-5321, Vol:96, Issue:jul-dec
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29321/MAJ.10.100503
Abstract
Use of microbial inoculants to enhance the nutrient uptake of any traditional medicinal plant
is prerequisite to keep its medicinal value. In order to optimize the microbial inoculants for
ashwagandha Withania Somnifera (L) Duna nutrient management, experiments were
conducted. The effective strains of Azospirillum, Azotobacter, Bacillus and Pseudomonas
isolated and characterized from different medicinal plants of Tamil Nadu were evaluated for
ashwagandha under pot-culture condition. The results revealed that combined inoculation
of A. lipoferum - AAs-11, Azotobacter - AAz-3, Bacillus - APb-1 and Pseudomonas fluorescens
- APs-1 enhanced the biochemical constituents of ashwagandha such as chlorophyll, protein
and total alkaloid contents compared to single and other combinations. Further, this
bioinoculant package along with panchakavya spray enhanced the rhizosphere microbial
activity of ashwagandha. It is concluded that these microbial inoculants in combination with
panchakavya is the best organic nutrient management package for ashwagandha
Key words : Ashwagandha, alkaloid, microbial inoculants, medicinal plants, rhizosphere