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L-TRYPTOPHAN  APPLICATION  ENHANCES  THE EFFECTIVENESS OF RHIZOBIUM INOCULATION FOR IMPROVING GROWTH AND YIELD OF MUNGBEAN (VIGNA RADIATA (L.) WILCZEK)

ZAHIR A. ZAHIR*, H.M. YASIN, M. NAVEED, M.A. ANJUM AND M. KHALID

Abstract: Rhizobium inoculation has successfully been used for improving growth and yield of legume crops in different parts of the world. L-Tryptophan (L-TRP) application may further improve its effectiveness due to substrate-dependent inoculum-derived auxins in the rhizosphere. Rhizobium phaseoli strains were isolated using dilution plate technique from the mung bean nodules. Auxin biosynthesis by these rhizobial isolates was determined in the absence and presence of L-TRP, a physiological precursor of auxins. Rhizobial isolates varied widely in auxins biosynthesis capabilities and N42 being the highest auxin producer strain was further evaluated in the presence of different levels of L-TRP (10^-3, 10^-4 and 10^-5 M) for improving the growth and yield of mung bean. Mung bean seeds were inoculated with peat-based inoculum and sown following randomized complete block design with four replications. Fertilizers, NP were applied at 30-60 kg ha^-1 as urea and single super phosphate (SSP) in all plots. Results revealed that L-TRP (10^-4 and 10^-5 M) and rhizobial inoculation when applied alone significantly increased the growth and yield of mung bean compared to untreated control. However, Rhizobium inoculation supplemented with L-TRP (10^-4 M) gave the most promising results and significantly increased the plant height, number of nodules plant^-1, nodular mass plant^-1, number of grains pod^-1, number of pods plant^-1, total plant biomass, grain yield and 1000-grain weight up to 28, 80, 77, 46, 54, 58, 57 and 17%, respectively compared to uninoculated control. Similarly, N concentration in grains also increased significantly at this L-TRP level by the rhizobial inoculation. The results imply that supplementing rhizobial inoculation with L-TRP could be a useful approach for improving growth, nodulation and yield of mung bean.

Institute of Soil & Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan