A sustainable agro-biotechnology for quality seedling production of Jatropha curcas L. in tropical nursery conditions

Nursery experiments were conducted to select the suitable bioinoculants with locally available organic source to improve quality seedling production of Jatropha curcas L. Two months old Clones was procured from the Mission Biofuel India Pvt. of Madurai district, Tamilnadu, India. Clones were transplanted in a mixture of UnSterilised sand, Soil, and Farm Yard Manure (FYM) in the ratio of 2:1:1 in a 13x 26 cm polyethylene bag. In order to find out the suitable organic and bio-inoculants and their combinations to achieve maximum overall growth and minimise the cost of clones production, The Compost, Seaweed fertilizer and Biofertilizers were applied individually and in combinations. Clones were kept under identical nursery conditions. Clones were harvested to estimate root length, shoot length, basal diameter, root weight, shoot weight were recorded 180 days after transplantation. Results show that the total clone growth and biomass were significantly increased in all the treatments compared to control plants. Biofertilizers co-inoculated with compost and seaweeds produced the maximum growth, biomass and quality seedling. Among all the treatments, inoculation with seaweed fertilizers + biofertilizers + compost recorded maximum shoot length followed by compost. These treatments recorded 12.96% and 6.53% increased over control. The total biomass is highest in seedling treated with seaweed fertilizers + biofertilizers + compost and it was recorded 44.87% increased over control. This clearly indicates that biofertilizers act synergistically when inoculated with organic and seaweed fertilizers. It is recommended that Seaweed fertilizers, biofertilizers and compost can be simultaneously used for quality seedling production. KEYWORDS