Interaction between nutrition, PGPR, and ambient and increased tropospheric ozone levels on chickpea (Cicer arietinum) development and yield

Abstract

In 2020 and 2021, an experiment was carried out at the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New
Delhi to investigate how nutrients and PGPR (plant growth promoting rhizobacteria) interacted to affect the
growth and yield of chickpea (Cicer aeritinum L.) cv. Pusa 3043 under ambient and elevated ozone levels in
FAOE (free air ozone enrichment). When compared to ambient ozone (AO3) settings, high ozone (EO3) was
shown to reduce dry matter production by 15–16%. PGPR seed treatment was shown to make up for this loss, as
evidenced by an 18–19% increase in seed production compared to untreated seeds. When compared to the
prescribed dosage of fertilizer (RDF) application, the PGPR treatments with 75% nitrogen demonstrated a
significant gain in seed output. PGPR like RPAN8 (Anabena laxa) and An-Rh (Anabena torulosa with
Mesorhizobium ciceri) (chickpea rhizobium) showed yield increases of 12% and 14%, respectively, indicating
that An-Rh has an advantage over RPAN8 under EO3. Combining both PGPRs produced a 19% yield
improvement over RDF, outperforming either PGPR alone. This demonstrates how treating seeds with PGPR
(RPAN8 and An-Rh) might lessen the stress that tropospheric ozone causes in chickpea plants