Assessing the Benefits of Azotobacter Bacterization in Sugarcane: A Field Appraisal

Biofertilizers have long been assessed as powerful technology to obtain sustainable enhanced crop production. The present investigation revealed the positive effects of inoculation of Azotobacter biofertilizer on growth and yield parameters in sugarcane var. CoJ 83 under field conditions. Application of Azotobacter biofertilizer at both the nitrogen levels (N-75% Rec and N-100% Rec levels) resulted in significant increase in the cane yield over the respective controls. Maximum increase in cane yield was recorded by Azotobacter inoculation at recommended dose of nitrogen. Inoculation with Azotobacter at N-75% Rec level of N fertilizer resulted in cane yield that was observed to be statistically at par with N100% Rec level. The application of this biofertilizer would not only be beneficial keeping in view the phenomenon of enhanced productivity using environmentally benign technology, but also would be useful to obtain better yield with improvement of the soil microbial ecology/soil food web.