Short Communication Screening of Mesorhizobium ciceri isolates from rainfed area for improvement in growth and nodulation of chickpea seedlings under controlled conditions

In Pakistan, about 18% of total cultivated area is rainfed. The production in these areas is entirely dependent on annual precipitation. The return from agriculture in these areas is low as compared with irrigated areas and efforts are therefore required to boost up the crop yields. So, this study was conducted to assess the potential of Rhizobium isolates for improving chickpea growth parameters under axenic conditions. Fifteen Mesorhizobium ciceri strains (JK-1 to JK-15) were isolated from the root nodules of chickpea grown in rainfed area for the study. Three chickpea seeds were grown in each jar after inoculation with Mesorhizobium ciceri cultures having uninoculated control. The jars were placed in the growth room under axenic condition. After eight weeks data for growth parameters and nodulation were collected. It is revealed from the data that Mesorhizobium ciceri isolates significantly improved the fresh and dry shoot/root weight and shoot/root length over the control but potential of improvement in these parameters varied with the isolates. The increase ranged between 35 to 60% in various isolates. The isolates Jk-10, Jk-8 and Jk-4 showed better results than other isolates. As far as nodulation is concerned, up to 13 nodules were found in plants treated with Jk-10 isolate.