4 (1) : 83-88, 2010

N
IMPACT OF VERMICOMPOST CARRIER BASED BIOINOCULANTS
ON THE GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY OF RICE (ORYZA SATIVA
L.) C. V. NLR 145
Save Nature to Survive

QUARTERLY

A. GANDHI* AND K. SIVAKUMAR

Department of Botany, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar - 608 002, Tamil Nadu, INDIA
E-mail: drgbotany@yahoo.in
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
Biofertilizers play an important role for supplementing the essential plant nutrients
for sustainable agriculture, economy and eco-friendly environment. The term
biofertilizers generally are defined as preparation containing live or latent cells of
efficient strains of N-fixing, P-solubilizing or cellulolytic microorganisms used for
application to seed or soil (Motsara et al., 1995).The use of biofertilizers in crops
/plants have been recommended considering the effective /sufficient dose and
beneficial response on growth of plants and yield of crops. The biofertilizer is
manufactured using effective strains and it is first mass cultured in a liquid medium
in a fermentor or containers. The broth is then mixed with a carrier, it may be peat
or lignite or charcoal. Finally it is subjected to curing wherein the initial bacteria
increase in number depending on the nutrient availability in the carrier. Hence
the carrier plays an important role in the shelf life of the inoculated microbial
culture. In moist formulation, the carrier absorbs and retains the moisture and
provides a surface for growth of the bacteria.
Presently, lignite powder is being used as carrier material by most of the
bioinoculant producing units in India. Often it has also been found that its
availability is also made difficult, as it is being used as fuel by thermal power
stations, etc. Availability of quality lignite powder is also in doubt because of
adulteration by agents and improper mesh size in the pulverizing unit. Several
scientists have suggested compost as carrier material for biofertilizers. But the role
of good compost in maintaining microbial population has not been studied much.
The existing studies exhibit that the earthworm casts is ideal material for carrying
microbial culture from the agriculture point of view. In the present study, the role
of vermicompost as carrier in maintaining shelf life of inoculated bacterial culture
has been studied for selecting as alternative carrier material to lignite. The
vermicompost carrier based bioinoculants such as A.lipoferum, B.megaterium
and P. fluorescens have been inoculated in rice and have been studied for their
performance in the growth and yield of rice.

The efficacy of vermicompost and lignite based

Azospirillum lipoferum (Az 204), Bacillus
megaterium (PB2) and Pseudomonas
fluorescens(Pf1) inoculants were compared on
rice variety NLR 145 at 75% N and P levels
under field conditions. The inoculants applied
as individual, dual and combined form to paddy
through seed, seedling root treatment and field
application. The inoculation of all the three
vermicompost carrier inoculants as combined
form recorded significant results in enhancing
the plant height, leaf area, total tillers, dry
matter production and reducing the number of
days to 50% flowering and maturity. The
combined form of vermicompost carrier based
inoculants application significantly influenced
the number of tillers, panicle length, total
number of grains per panicles, the number of
filled grains per panicle, thousand grains weight,
grain yield and straw yield. The influence of
combined form of inoculation of vermicompost
based inoculants in rice grain quality like hulling
percentage, milling percentage of grain and
water uptake, volume expansion, elongation
ratio, protein and amylose of rice kernel was
also significant in both pot and field experiments
when compared to others. The pot and field
experimental studies suggest the possibility of
using vermicompst as alternative carrier to
lignite in the inoculant preparation with specific
reference to A. lipoferum, B. megaterium and
P. fluorescens.

KEY WORDS

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Mother culture of A.lipoferum (Az 204), B.megaterium (PB2) and P. fluorescens
(Pf1) were obtained from Tamilnadu Agriculture University, Coimbatore, India
and cultures were preserved in refrigerated condition.
Preparation of bacterial inoculants
Nitrogen Free Bromothymoleblue medium (Dobereiner et al., 1976), Nutrient
medium and Kings B medium were prepared for culturing A.lipoferum,
B.megaterium and Pseudomonas fluorescence, respectively without agar. The
liquid medium prepared in conical flask, sterilized and stored for use as per the
standard laboratory method.
83

Azospirillum lipoferum
Bacillus megaterium
Pseudomonas fluorescens
Vermicompost
Carrier

Received :
Revised :
Accepted :

26.08.2009
17.11.2009
19.01.2010

*Corresponding author

A. GANDHI AND K. SIVAKUMAR

The conical flasks containing specific medium were

inoculated with a loopful of respective bacterial culture from
agar slant under aseptic conditions and kept in rotary shaker
and allowed to grow for 5- 7 days for A.lipoferum, 1-2 days
for B.megaterium and 5-7 days for P.fluorescens. The broth
was harvested for inoculation with the sterilized carrier when
cell count of about 109 cells/cc was achieved. The broth was
injected into preprepared sterilized and cooled vermicompost
and lignite carrier material packets at 100mL per packet and
inoculated packets were blended thoroughly manually to get
uniform bacterial inoculant. The inoculated packets put under
curing for 3 days and then used for inoculation in rice.

nursery plot. The nursery was irrigated whenever necessary.

The 25-day old seedlings were pulled from nursery and root
portion of the seedlings were treated with bioinoculants as
was done during seed treatment and kept for 15 to 20 minutes
and then transplanted with a spacing of 15 x 15 cm. The
treated seedlings were planted in field at one seedling per hill
as per the treatments. The recommended dose of 120 N + 60
P2O5 + 40 K2O kg/ha in the form of urea single super phosphate
and Murata of potash respectively were applied to rice in and
field experiment. A uniform dose of K was applied as basal to
all the treatments. Nitrogen and Phosphorous were
supplemented through A.lipoferum and B.megaterium as per
the treatment. P was applied through single super phosphate
in single dose as basal and N was applied through urea in 3
equal split doses at basal, at active tillering and panicle initiation
stages of rice crop.

Field experiment was conducted in the wet land block of

Agriculture research station, Nellore (Acharya N. G. Ranga
Agriculture University) during rabi season (Nov-Dec to March
- April). Soil samples were drawn from the experimental field
at random and soil samples were analyzed for different
Physico-chemical properties by the standard methods. The
rice variety NLR 145 was used in the present study. The field
experiment laid out in a randomized plot design was repeated
thrice.

The recommended dose of 6 kg Azospirillum + 6 kg Bacillus

+ 2 kg Pseudomonas/ ha in the form of carrier based culture
were applied as per the treatment in field experiment by three
methods such as seed treatment, seedling root dip and main
field application. A.lipoferum, B.megaterium and P.fluorescens
inoculants were applied in 3 split doses of 25% in seed
treatment, 25% in seedling root dip and 50% in main field
application. The crop was maintained as per the standard
cultivation method.

Treatments
T1 - 100% recommended N and P through urea and single
super phosphate respectively.
T2 - 75% N through urea + 25% N through Vermicompost
based Azospirillum (VAZS) + 100%P through Single
Super Phosphate

Growth parametres
Five plants from each plot were chosen by random sampling
and tagged. These plants were used for recording all
morphometric observations such as plant height, tiller number,
leaf area, drymatter production on25th, 50th, 75th, 100th and
125th day and days to 50% flowering and days to maturity
were recorded (Hemalatha et al., 2000).

T3 - 75% N through urea + 25% N through Lignite based

Azospirillum (LAZS) + 100%P through single super
phosphate
T4 - 100% N through urea + 75%P through single super
phosphate + 25% P through Vermicompost based
Bacillus (VPSB)

Yield parametres
The number of panicle (Productive tillers) per plant, panicle
length, Total number of grains and number of filled grains per
panicle and thousand grains weight were recorded at harvest
from the ten randomly tagged plants in each plot (Hemalatha
et al., 2000).

T5 - 100% N through urea + 75%P through single super

phosphate + 25% P through Lignite based Bacillus
(LPSB)
T6 - 75% N through urea + 25% N through VAZS + 100%P
through single super phosphate + Vermicompost based
Pseudomonas (VPSN)

Yield
Grain yield was calculated through ten randomly selected
plants which were thoroughly sun dried to 14% moisture
content, weighed and expressed in gm per plant. The Straw
yield was recorded by sun drying the ten randomly selected
plants until a constant weight was obtained and expressed in
g/plant.

T7 - 75% N through urea + 25% N through LAZS + 100%P

through single super phosphate + Lignite based
Pseudomonas (LPSN)
T8 - 100% N through urea + 75% P through single super
phosphate + 25% VPSB + VPSN
T9 - 100% N through urea + 75% P through single super
phosphate + 25% LPSB + LPSN

Quality parameters of Rice grain and Kernels

Hulling percentage: One hundred gram of rough rice (paddy)
after through drying to a moisture level of 12 14 % was
passed through Satake rice machine and the weight of the
hulled rice was taken and the hulling percentage was
calculated by using the following formula and presented in
percentage(Hemalatha et al., 2000).

T10 - 75% N through urea + 25% through VAZS + 75% P

through single super phosphate + 25% through VPSB
+ VPSN
T11 - 75% N through urea + 25% through LAZS + 75% P
through single super phosphate + 25% through LPSB
+ LPSN

Total weight of hulled rice (g)

The paddy seeds were treated with bioinoculants as per the

treatment and soaked in water for 24 hrs and incubated for
48 hrs in gunny bags to induce germination. The sprouted
seeds were sown uniformly over well-prepared respective

Hulling % =

Total weight of rough rice (g)

X 100

Milling percentage: The hulled brown rice was subjected to

84

IMPACT OF VERMICOMPOST

milling for 90 seconds i.e., 5% milling (Chauhan et al., 1994)

in Satake grain testing mill and the weight was recorded.
The milling percentage was calculated by using the following
formula and presented in percentage.

the number of tillers in rice plant. They also reported the similar
trend but the impact of single inoculant is closely related with
T2, T3, T4 and T5 treatments. But at the same time, the values
are not significant when compared to the dual and combined
form of inoculation.

Total weight of milled rice (g)

Milling % =

Total weight of rough rice (g)

X 100

Generally the plant dry matter content increased by the

influence of bioinoculant (Kumar and Balasubramanian, 1989,
Kaloianova 1999, Adhikari et al., 2001,). But when the
bioinoculant was given in dual or combined form it shows
significant result (Sikander Ali et al., 1995; Alam et al., 2001).
In the present study, similar trend was observed in T10 and
T11 and it clearly shows that the combined bioinoculants
with multiple influences may have a significant impact on plant
dry matter. It was found that among all the types of treatment
comparatively, the T10 treatment, which treated with
vermicompost based bioinoculants as combined form reduced
the number of days for 50 percent flowering to 92 and 93
days. Hemalatha et al., (2000) reported that Azosprillum plus
50 percent of recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF) influenced
in reducing the number of days for 50 percent flowering to 99
days in rice plant (c. v., Co 43). But Shanmugam and
Veeraputhran (2000) reported the green manure plus
Azosprillum further reduce the number of days for 50 percent
flowering.

Water uptake: The milled rice was put into a test tube
containing distilled water @ 50mL per two gm of milled rice).
It was allowed to soak for 30 minutes and then boiled for 45
minutes at 77C to 80C. The test tubes were taken out and
placed in a beaker containing cold water for cooling. The
cooked rice was blotted for free of water without the loss of
solids and weighed to find out water uptake. The water uptake
was calculated by the formula and expressed in mL / 100 gm
by multiplying the value with 100.

Water uptake (mL/100g)=

Weight of cooked rice

weight of milled rice (g)
Weight of milled rice (g)

Volume expansion: The volume of the initial milled rice was

measured by water displacement method in a graduated
measuring cylinder. Then the milled rice was put into a test
tube and cooked in boiling water bath for 20 minutes. Then
Volume expansion

Similarly, the number of days for maturity of rice plant recorded

was 128.23 cm in T10 and 127.97cm in T11. It clearly shows
that the combined bioinoculant may influence in reducing
the number of days for maturity in rice plant irrespective to
difference of carrier material difference. The similar report was
recorded by Chi et al., (1998) that the effect of Azosprillum
species in rice plant and reported that the number of days for
maturity was reduced to certain extent i.e., 3 to 5 days earlier
when compared to control (140 days).(Table 1)

Volume of cooked rice

Volume of milled rice (g)

the cooked rice was decanted on a filter paper to remove the

excess water. The cooked rice volume was measured again,
by water displacement method. The volume expansion is
calculated by using following formula.
Elongation ratio: The length of 20 milled grains were recorded
and they were pre soaked for 30 minutes and placed directly
into a test tube containing boiling water and cooked for 20
minutes. Then the length was measured with the help of a
graph paper under the glass sheet. The length of the curved
rice was measured with the help of a thread. The kernel length
after cooking was calculated by adopting the formula.
Elongation ratio =

Yield parameters: The yield parameters like number of panicle

(Productive tillers) per plant, panicle length, Total number of
grains and number of filled grains per panicle and thousand
grains weight are presented in Table 2.
It was reported (Yanni and El-Fattah, 1999 and Shanmugam
and Veeraputhran, 2000) that the combined inoculation of
bioinoculants increased the number of panicle per plant. In
the present work also similar trend was observed in T10.
Similarly, the number of grains per panicle was high and
significant in T10 as reported by Kaloianova (1999) and
Shanmugam and Veeraputhran (2000) who had observed
significant increase by application of Azosprillum inoculant.

Kernel length after cooking

Kernel length before cooking

Protein content: Protein and amylose content of rice kernel

were estimated by the method of Lowry et al., (1951).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Growth parameters: Growth parameters like plant height, tiller
number, leaf area, drymatter production on 125th day and
days to 50% flowering and days to maturity were presented
in Tables 1. Among all the types of treatment, it was found that
the T10 treatment showed maximum leaf area with high mean
value. These results are similar to Alam et al., (2001) who had
studied the significant impact of Rhizobium, Azotobacter,
Bacillus, Entrobacter and Xanthobacter on leaf area is
significant.

Yanni and El-Fattah (1999) found that the combined inoculation

of Azosprillum, Azotobacter and Cyanobacteria not only
increased the panicle number but also increased the total
number of grains. In the present study also the impact of
bioinoculant on the total number of grains per panicle is
significant but the combined inoculation showed
comparatively better results. Whether it is individual, dual or
combined treatment the total grains per panicle of rice plant
showed a significant result, these observations are
corroborating with the earlier reports.

Among all the types of treatment the T10 treatment recorded

a significant result in total tillers per plant. Hemalatha et al.,
(2000) and Nandhakumar et al., (2001) studied the impact of
individual inoculant (Azosprillum sp., and P.fluorescens) on

The effect of combined application of vermicompost carrier

based inoculants (T10) showed a significant result in increasing
the number of filled grains per panicle of rice. Sarwar et al.,
85

A. GANDHI AND K. SIVAKUMAR

Table 1: Growth components at 125th day of plant growth as influenced by different treatments
Treatment(t)

Plant height(cm)

Leaf area(cm2)

Total number
of tillers

Plant dry
matter(g)

No. of days for

50% flowering

No. of days
for maturity

T1-Control
T2-VAZS
T3-LAZS
T4-VPSB
T5-LPSB
T6-VAZS+VPSN
T7-LAZS+LPSN
T8-VPSB+VPSN
T9-LPSB+LPSN
T10-VAZS+VPSB+VPSN
T11-LAZS+LPSB+LPSN
F-value

115.934.38
118.235.28
117.804.12
116.806.52
116.733.72
121.335.81
122.006.14
118.103.59
121.102.98
124.904.51
124.673.77
3.944

73.032.76
79.583.11
81.302.89
77.704.52
76.992.10
82.353.74
81.483.21
81.644.58
85.433.77
88.312.95
87.243.81
4.228

10.291.42
11.271.31
11.051.86
10.751.00
10.761.42
12.110.98
12.011.21
11.712.11
11.691.76
12.841.54
12.731.66
0.159

37.252.65
39.052.81
39.322.77
38.672.69
38.382.54
40.503.41
39.972.98
40.083.12
39.612.81
41.843.45
42.183.10
1.845

101.333.28
97.522.11
96.823.15
99.282.88
100.543.10
93.252.36
95.262.88
96.083.00
95.852.13
92.032.73
92.352.66
0.116

135.274.65
132.333.18
132.704.29
134.633.92
134.334.18
129.373.42
130.603.98
131.434.13
132.373.42
128.233.66
127.973.50
0.335

Mean SD of six individual observation; F-value: Statistically significant at 5% level

(2001). They reported that the combined application of

inoculants showed a better result on grain yield in rice plant
by using different bioinoculants. This report correlates with
the present study that the combined application of
vermicompost carrier based inoculants showed better result
on the grain yield.

(2000) studied the impact of Azosprillum as individual

application in pot experiment found that the number of filled
grains per panicle increased to a certain extent. Similar
observation was also made by Shanmugam and Veeraputhran
(2000) with green manure association with Azosprillum. But
in the present study the maximum number of filled grains per
panicle was observed in the combined type of bioinoculant
application when compared to individual and dual
applications.

Similarly, the highest value of straw yield per plant was recorded
in T10. Kumar and Balasubramanian et al., (1989), Yanni and
El-Fattah (1999) and Hemalatha et al., (2000) reported that the
application of Azosprillum inoculant with reduction of fertilizer
application enhanced the straw yield. Sapatnekar et al., (2001)
found that the combined inoculation of biofertilizers increased
the straw yield. In the present study also the combined
application of vermicompost carrier based inoculants showed
a significant result followed by lignite carrier based inoculants.

Arangarajan et al., (1998) studied the effect of A. lipoferum

and B. megaterium on thousand grains weight and found that
the dual application increased the grains weight. But in the
present study the influence of combined application of
bioinoculants (T10 and T11) is highly significant when
compared to dual and individual application of bioinoculants.

Quality parameters: The quality parameters such as Milling

percentage and Water uptake, Volume expansion, Elongation,
Protein and Amylose content of rice kernel of different
treatments are presented in Table 3.

The results on grain yield per plant was highly significant in

T10.Generally, the A.lipoferum either as individual or along
with other bioinoculants showed a better result when compared
to others. Similar results were observed by Gopalaswamy and
Raj (1997), Krishnan Chandra and Singh (1996), Vendan and
Sundaram (1997), Vendan and Sundaram (1997), Arangarajan
et al., (1998), Islam and Bora (1998), Jeyapal and Kuppusamy
(1998),Pradhan and Mohan (1998), Sarwar et al., (1998),
Acharya et al., (1999), Kaloianova (1999), Yanni and El-Fattah
(1999), Hemalatha et al., (2000) and Jeyapal and Kuppusamy

In the case of percentage of milling of rice kernel, the maximum

percentage (70.59) was recorded in T10 treatment followed
by T11 (70.50) and T6 (69.64). Similarly, the maximum water
uptake of rice kernel was observed in T10 treatment followed
by T11 with the mean value of 284.50mL/100g and 284.54mL/
100g respectively. The effect of different carrier based

Table 2: Yield parameters of rice as influenced by different treatments

Treatment(t)

Number of
Panicles per
plant

Panicle length
(cm)

Total number
of grains per
plant

Number of
filled grains

Thousand
grains weight

Grain yield

Straw yield

T1-CONTROL
T2-VAZS
T3-LAZS
T4-VPSB
T5-LPSB
T6-VAZS+VPSN
T7-LAZS+LPSN
T8-VPSB+VPSN
T9-LPSB+LPSN
T10-AZS+VPSB
+VPSN
T11-LAZS+LPSB
+LPSN
F-value

4.700.96
5.571.11
5.401.00
5.371.21
5.630.81
6.101.38
5.901.03
5.801.21
5.730.98
6.331.45

22.371.68
22.902.01
22.771.77
22.501.63
22.601.80
24.431.92
24.171.21
23.801.33
23.902.18
25.571.69

144.876.51
151.705.81
150.635.44
148.174.12
147.674.89
153.705.11
154.475.28
152.674.32
153.374.65
154.933.96

128.033.48
134.335.61
134.204.98
132.374.54
132.704.49
135.173.98
135.404.00
134.233.76
135.404.16
138.475.21

23.001.32
23.371.76
23.271.68
23.101.54
23.031.11
24.231.94
23.931.82
23.801.95
24.102.10
24.372.38

14.170.96
15.971.18
15.611.03
15.421.12
15.360.98
16.121.26
15.871.12
15.921.23
15.921.09
18.191.36

15.511.21
18.232.38
17.792.11
17.712.66
16.761.99
18.382.32
18.202.68
17.801.89
18.022.08
19.722.44

6.271.28

25.372.00

154.804.20

137.205.08

24.701.36

17.791.21

19.432.01

0.234

0.311

0.681

0.867

0.357

0.338

0.461

Mean SD of six individual observation; F-value: Statistically significant at 5% level

86

IMPACT OF VERMICOMPOST

Table 3: Quality of rice as influenced different treatments

Treatment(T)

Milling
percentage

Hulling
percentage

Water up take

Volume
expansion

Elongstion
ratio

Protein content Amylose

of rice
content

T1-Control
T2-VAZS
T3-LAZS
T4-VPSB
T5-LPSB
T6-VAZS+VPSN
T7-LAZS+LPSN
T8-VPSB+VPSN
T9-LPSB+LPSN
T10-AZS+VPSB
+VPSN
T11-LAZS+LPSB
+LPSN
F-value

65.235.62
68.556.71
67.526.38
66.384.21
65.435.34
69.646.81
67.644.51
67.575.99
67.584.11
70.596.28

72.126.89
74.474.32
74.275.34
73.504.81
73.106.99
74.974.28
74.825.01
73.735.66
74.194.72
76.676.99

248.438.21
262.579.43
263.608.54
252.138.00
252.379.22
268.637.34
267.506.18
266.579.45
257.208.99
286.407.21

3.850.86
4.921.21
4.821.00
4.701.10
4.650.99
5.231.26
5.231.12
5.131.08
5.100.92
5.431.21

1.180.68
1.270.77
1.230.36
1.210.42
1.040.70
1.230.32
1.240.41
1.190.26
1.220.99
1.430.51

65.376.71
68.435.34
66.534.28
66.374.92
67.376.80
68.405.26
68.804.88
67.774.16
68.435.73
77.306.86

15.221.88
16.752.01
16.821.26
16.211.78
16.062.11
18.212.07
18.171.33
17.141.48
17.172.00
20.191.66

70.505.96

76.475.21

284.506.77

5.371.16

1.420.78

74.104.22

20.161.58

0.083

0.430

0.267

0.084

0.061

1.175

0.267

Mean SD of six individual observation; F-value: Statistically significant at % level

inoculants in volume expansion of rice kernel was significant.

The maximum volume expansion value of 5.43 was recorded
in T10 treatment followed by T11 (5.37) and T6 (5.23). The
Similar trend of result was observed in maximum value of
protein content and amylose content of rice kernel. The values
are significant in T10 and followed by T11.

inoculation showed a significant result when compared to the

individual one. But among the three types of treatment
(individual, dual and combined) the combined treatment
showed better and significant results. Among all the treatments,
the T10(VAZS+VPSB+VPSN) and T11(LAZS+LPSB+LPSN)
showed better results in plant height, leaf area, plant dry
matter content, total number of tillers, number of days for 50
percent flowering, number of days for maturity, number of
panicles per plant, panicle length, total number of grains per
panicle, number of filled grains, thousand grains weight, grain
yield, straw yield, hulling percent, milling percent of grains,
water uptake, volume expansion, elongation ratio, protein and
amylose content of rice kernel.

Similar trend was also observed by Dixit and Gupta (2000)

and Sreenivasa Reddy (2002) in milling percentage,
Shanmugasundaram (1987), Parida et al., (1995), Singh and
choudhary (1997) found that the volume expansion of rice
kernel showed a significant result by combined form of
inoculation. In our study also the combined type of inoculation
particularly the T10 treatment showed a significant result when
compared to dual and individual inoculation. The combined
form of bioinoculant application (T10) significantly influenced
the elongation ratio of rice kernel when compared to other
types of treatment.

It is concluded that among the individual, dual and combined

form of bioinoculant application, the combined application
showed better results and the vermicompost carrier based
inoculants is performed significantly when compare to lignite
carrier based one with specific reference to A. lipoferum,
B.megaterium and P.fluorescens inoculants on rice.

Parida et al., (1995) and Hemalatha et al., (1999) found that

Azosprillum along with nitrogen fertilizer showed increase in
protein content of rice kernel. Sreenivasa Reddy (2002)
reported significant increase in protein content when green
manure and biogas slurry applied to the field. In the present
study also there is a coincidence that the increase in the protein
content of rice kernel was influenced by different types of
treatment but at the same time significant result was found in
the combined type of bioinoculant applied treatment T10 and
T11. Parida et al., (1995); Hemalatha et al., (1999); Sreenivasa
Reddy (2002) reported that the amyloes content of rice kernel
was enhanced by the application of organic manure, nitrogen
fertilizer and Azosprillum and nitrogen fertilizer alone. In the
present study also the amylose content of the rice kernel shows
a significant result due to the combined application of
bioinoculants.

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