Seed bio-priming approach to amplify production potential of mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) in sandy soils

Seed treatment with living microorganisms is an eco-friendly and effective alternative to chemical seed treatment which improves plant growth and production. To evaluate this approach, three kinds of microbes exclusive and also in combinations were applied to the seeds of two mungbean genotypes and grown under field conditions during the summer season 2016. The bio-primed seeds significantly affected and promoted growth and yield related traits like emergence count (EC), leaf area index (LAI), chlorophyll content (Chl), number of nodules plant-1 (NNP), number of pods plant-1 (NPP), number of grains pod-1 (NGP), thousand seed weight (TSW), biomass (BM) and grain yield (GY) . The genotype NM-11 under the combined treatment of microbes (MR-1/1 + MR-1/2 + SR-5-1) outperformed genotype NCM by producing higher grain yield 3460 kg ha-1, while untreated seeds observed the lowest grain yield 1969 kg ha-1. Bio-priming proved its supremacy over unprimed seeds by improving growth and yield related traits. Significant and positive correlations were also observed between growth and yield parameters under different treatments of microbes. These results suggest that seed bio-priming by combining different microbes can be used to augment mungbean crop outputs under sandy soils conditions.