Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 78 (10): 900–2, October 2008

Effect of biofertilizers on growth, yield and quality of lucerne (Medicago sativa)

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under irrigated conditions of hyper arid western plains of Rajasthan*
R SAMMAURIA1 and N S YADAV2

Agricultural Research Station, Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner 334 006

Received: 2 January 2008

Key words: Biofertilizers, Crude protein, Dry fodder yield, Green fodder yield, Lucerne, Medicago sativa,

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Protein yield, PSB, Rhizobium

Livestock are one of the most important components of
the different arid region farming systems of north-western
part of Rajasthan. Inadequate and uncertain availability of
green fodder has been mainly responsible for low
productivity of the livestock of the region. Lucerne
(Medicago sativa L.) gives highly palatable nutritious fodder
rich in protein and mineral constituents and can mitigate the
in organic carbon (0.07%), available N (101.2 kg/ha),
medium in available P (9.8 kg/ha) and high in available K
(216.5 kg/ha). Total 8 treatments, viz PSB, rhizobium, PSB
+ rhizobium, recommended dose of nitrogen and phosphorus
(20 kg N and 40 kg P/ha), recommended dose of nitrogen
and phosphorus with PSB, recommended dose of nitrogen
and phosphorus with rhizobium, recommended dose of

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acute shortage of green fodder in the region (Patel et al. 2007).
Further, high yield and quality potential, versatility in
utilization, soil improvement and symbiotic nitrogen fixation
are among the most important factors in favour of its wider
nitrogen and phosphorus with PSB and rhizobium and
control, were taken to study their effect on growth, yield and
quality of lucerne. The experiment was laid out in randomized
block design with 4 replications. Nitrogen and phosphorus

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use in agricultural production systems (Shiva Dhar et al.
2005). It is a long-duration crop and require very high amount
of nutrients for optimizing the green fodder yield thus
fertilizer management is the most important aspect to get
maximum quality forage in nutrient deficient soils (Patel and
Kotecha 2006). Inoculation with biofertilizers will essentially
cut the cost of green fodder production by curtailing the
requirement and thus cost of fertilizers. Inoculation with
rhizobium improves the availability of nitrogen and
phosphorus solubility increases with the use of phosphates-
solubilizing bacteria (PSB) which definitely increase the
productivity of the crop. Though farmers have started taking
the crop in the region but there is very less information is
available with regard to response of lucerne to different
inputs. Considering these facts in view an experiment was
conducted in the light-textured soils of Indira Gandhi Nahar
Pariyojana (IGNP) command.
The experiment was conducted during the winter (rabi)
seasons of 2001–04 at Agricultural Research Station, Bikaner.
The soil was loamy sand, alkaline in reaction (pH 8.3), low
*Short note
1 Associate Professor (Agronomy), (E-mail: rsamrau
@yahoo.co.in) Dryland Farming Research Station, Maharana
Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, P O Box No 62
Arjia, Bhilwara 311 001
2 Associate Professor (Agronomy), (E-mail: dearnagendra
@yahoo.co.in) AICRP on Forage Crops
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were applied through di-ammonium phosphate (87 kg) and
urea (9.5 kg) and fertilizers were drilled in furrows at sowing.
Seeds were inoculated with the biofertilizers as per treatment.
The gross plot size was 3.0 m ! 4.0 m and ‘T 9’ lucerne was
sown at 30 cm apart on 17, 11 and 8 November during 2001,
2002 and 2003 respectively. First cut was taken 2 months
after sowing and subsequently after every 25–30 days. The
last cuts were taken during last week of March or first week
of April because at this period there was steep rise in
atmospheric temperature and no further cuts were possible.
During 2001–02 and 2002–03, total 4 cuts of green fodder
were taken, however, during 2003–04 only 3 cuts could be
obtained. Climatic conditions during 2001–02 and 2002–03
remained more favourable than in the third season as in 2003–
04 mean air temperature during 7 th –11 th Standard
Meteorological Week increased with very fast rate. Further,
mean air temperature was well below 25°C up to 11th week
during first 2 years while it was more than 29°C during third
year. The maximum temperature during 2003–04 reached
more than 39°C up to 11th week as against 33 and 31°C
during first and second year respectively. Average relative
humidity values were also unfavourble during third year
compared to first 2 years. Combined effect of these climatic
variables resulted in shortening of crop season and even with
providing irrigation to the crop this caused reduction in
number of cuttings during 2003–04. Shoots population was
recorded as shoots/m2 at 1 month after sowing as initial shoots

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October 2008] EFFECT OF BIOFERTILIZERS ON LUCERNE 901

population and just before the final cut as final shoots
population. Plant height was recorded from base to tip of 5
randomly selected plants from a plot at every cut. Average
of 5 selected plants was worked out to get plant height for a
cut. Average of different cuts during a year was taken as
but the level of available phosphorous in soil was in medium
range, its effect was not found as strong as that of the
rhizobium. Combined application of these 2 biofertilizers or
their combined application with fertilizer nitrogen and
phosphorus resulted in complimentary effects on each other.

plant height and recorded in cm. Green fodder yield from
each plot was harvested and converted into tonnes/ha. The
plant samples drawn out were first air-dried and put in to
oven allowing the temperature to reach up to 75°C until the
constant weight obtained. The reduction in weight was treated
as moisture content in sample and remained was recorded as
dry matter. Similarly dry matter yield of plot was worked
out by subtracting moisture from green fodder yield. This
dry matter was converted into tonnes/ha and recorded as dry
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Increased availability of phosphorus probably led to
development of extensive root system enabling more
extraction of nutrients from the soil including phosphorus.
Similarly, extensive root system might have provided more
surface area for nodulation and probably more biological
nitrogen fixation. Similar effects of biofertilizers have also
been reported by Govindan and Thirumurugan (2005) while
working on soybean (Glycine max L. Merr) crop and by
Meena (2003) on plant height of fenugreek (Trigonella-

matter yield. Air-dried samples were grounded finely for
estimation of nitrogen following standard method. Crude
protein content in plant was computed by multiplying
nitrogen content of plant with 6.25. Protein content thus
obtained was multiplied with dry matter yield for the
estimation of protein yield. Other package of practices was
followed as per recommendations.
Effect of biofertilizers and nitrogen, and phosphorus
applied as alone and in different combinations had significant
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graecum L.). Increased plant height and shoots/m2 of lucerne
due to nitrogen and phosphorus application has also been
reported by Patel et al. (2006).
Green fodder yield of lucerne increased significantly due
to application of biofertilizers and nitrogen and phosphorus.
Sole inoculation of lucerne seeds either with rhizobium or
PSB also increased the green fodder and dry matter yield
but inoculation with combined doses of both of these 2
biofertilizers was found as significantly better in improving

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improvement in number of shoots/m2 at initial and at final
stage and on plant height (Table 1). The highest number of
shoot was recorded with the combined application of
recommended dose of fertilizer nutrients (20 kg N and 40 kg
the green fodder and dry matter yield (Table 2). Similarly,
application of only nitrogen and phosphorus through fertilizer
brought significant improvement in green fodder and dry
matter yield in comparison to control. But combining

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P) and biofertilizers, followed by application of
recommended dose of nitrogen and phosphorus either with
rhizobium or PSB. Combined applications of rhizobium and
PSB or their combination with recommended doses of
nitrogen and phosphorus found significantly better over their
lone applications respectively. Nitrogen and phosphorus
application probably improved the availability of these 2 most
important nutrients improving the plant growth. Inoculation
with rhizobium might have also improved the nitrogen
availability by fixing the atmospheric nitrogen biologically.
Inoculation with PSB improved the availability of phosphorus
Table 1 Effect of biofertilizers on growth, yield and quality of lucerne (pooled data of 3 years)
recommended levels of nitrogen and phosphorus with either
rhizobium or PSB gave significantly higher green fodder and
dry matter yields compared to lone application of nitrogen
and phosphorus, whereas combined application of nitrogen
and phosphorus and both the biofertilizers gave highest yields
of lucerne. Such improvement in green fodder and dry matter
yield may be due to increased and regular availability of
nitrogen due to continuous fixation and supply of nitrogen
by the rhizobium (Jat and Shaktawat 2001). The soil was not
only poor in available nitrogen but also in its nutrient
retention capacity was also weaker due to its coarse texture

Treatment Shoots/m2 Plant height Protein Protein yield

Initial Final (cm) content (%) (kg/ha)

PSB 110.83 83.82 20.9 21.3 802.9

Rhizobium 121.66 95.66 23.9 22.5 910.3
PSB + rhizobium 149.73 121.79 24.9 22.4 1 049.0
20 kg N+ 40 kg P 173.28 149.45 24.4 21.8 1 137.8
20 kg N+ 40 kg P + PSB 182.54 160.90 23.0 21.7 1 227.2
20 kg N+ 40 kg P + rhizobium 187.23 165.03 23.6 22.0 1 322.2
20 kg N+ 40 kg P + PSB + rhizobium 208.97 186.00 26.3 22.3 1 515.4
Control 68.65 45.49 13.5 19.4 611.8
SEm± 2.72 2.18 0.6 0.4 33.9
CD (P = 0.05) 7.69 6.15 1.8 1.3 95.8

PSB, Phosphate solubilizing bacteria

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902 SAMMAURIA AND YADAV [Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 78 (10)

Table 2 Effect of biofertilizers on green fodder and dry matter yield of lucerne

Treatment Green fodder yield (tonnes/ha) Dry matter yield (tonnes/ha)

2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 Pooled 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 Pooled

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PSB 17.07 18.69 15.97 17.24 3.81 3.99 3.49 3.76
Rhizobium 18.74 19.27 16.47 18.16 4.18 4.40 3.49 4.03
PSB + rhizobium 23.95 20.38 17.42 20.58 5.52 4.72 3.79 4.68
20 kg N+ 40 kg P 23.67 24.92 21.30 23.30 5.28 5.67 4.66 5.20
20 kg N+ 40 kg P + PSB 30.44 24.42 20.87 25.24 6.82 5.73 4.42 5.66
20 kg N+ 40 kg P + rhizobium 32.51 25.36 21.68 26.52 7.34 5.95 4.72 6.00
20 kg N+ 40 kg P + PSB + rhizobium 38.35 28.08 24.00 30.14 8.56 6.47 5.23 6.75
Control 13.15 15.69 13.41 14.08 2.93 3.49 3.02 3.15
SEm± 0.89 0.97 0.70 0.43 0.22 0.20 0.16 0.10
CD (P = 0.05) 2.61 2.85 2.05 1.20 0.64 0.58 0.47 0.27

and poor in organic carbon content. So effect of fertilizer
nitrogen could not be expected too long for the sufficient
duration meeting requirements of the crop. Further, the soil
was medium in available phosphorus and presence of
solubilizing agent (PSB) probably led to further increase in
available phosphorus having positive impact on the yield of
the lucerne. Fertilizer nitrogen and phosphorus might have
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resulted in the maintaining of significantly higher number
of shoot/m2 at 1 month after sowing and at the time of last
cut. Plant height, crude protein content, green fodder and
dry matter yields also increased significantly due to combined
inoculation with rhizobium and PSB and with their combined
application with recommended doses of nitrogen and
phosphorus suggesting complementary effects of each other,

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fulfilled the initial nutritional requirement of the micro-
organisms enabling their optimal activity for adequate
amount of nitrogen fixation or solubilization of phosphorus
making the combined application of fertilizers and
which was evident from 29% increase in green fodder yield
over recommended doses of nitrogen and phosphorus.
Combined application of rhizobium and PSB also gave
significantly higher green fodder yield during all the 3 years

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biofertilizers as most effective treatment. Gupta (2004) has
also reported positive effect of biofertilizers on dry matter
in gram and Jat and Shaktawat (2001) in fenugreek. Patel et
al. (2006) have also noticed significant effect of nitrogen
and phosphorus on dry matter production of lucerne.
Fertilization of lucerne with biofertilizers also improved
the quality of fodder by increasing crude protein content
significantly over the control, however, all treatments were
statistically at par to each other in this respect. Protein yield
also increased significantly and highest protein yield was
recorded with the combined application of biofertilizers with
recommended dose of nitrogen and phosphorus, followed
by either rhizobium or PSB application with the
recommended doses of fertilizer nitrogen and phosphorus.
Increased availability of nitrogen, due to these treatments,
possibly increased the nitrogen content and crude protein
content of the lucerne increasing protein yield significantly.
Significant increase in protein content in gram (Cicer
arietinum L.)has also been reported by Gupta (2004) while
studying with combined application of biofertilizers and
nitrogen and phosphorus.
SUMMARY
An experiment was conducted to study the response of
lucerne to bio-fertilizers for 3 consecutive years from 2001
to 2004 at Agricultural Research Station, Rajasthan
Agricultural University, Bikaner. Application of biofertilizers
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in comparison to control. However, rhizobium and PSB when
applied as alone could not bring much impact in improving
green fodder yield as their effects in this respect were
significantly better only during 2001–02.
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Gupta S C. 2004. Response of gram to types and methods of
microbial inoculation. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences
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Jat B L and Shaktawat M S. 2001. Effect of phosphorus, sulphur
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