Prospective of Chlorella vulgaris to Augment Growth and Yield Parameters Along with Superior Seed Qualities in Black Gram, Vigna mungo (L.)

The demands placed on global agricultural production arising out of population and income has grown almost tripled. In order to meet the increasing demand, it is mandatory to elevate the production by avoiding the usage of chemical fertilizers that makes the soil barren, unfertile and pollutes the environment as well as harmful to the consumers, where the biofertilizers came in to play. Microalgae can be played a pivotal role in building and maintaining soil fertility, subsequently increasing the growth as well as yield of several agricultural crops. But the reports on production of black gram were found to be scanty and thus this study focuses on its possible role. Algal extracts of varying concentrations were used as foliar sprays treatment and growth parameters; number of root nodules, yield attributes and quality parameters were measured. The implication of green algae as biofertilizer not only increases the yield characters but also improvises the soil physico-chemical properties. In addition, there was a subsequent increase in number of root modules, pigment compositions and yield attributes. Thus, the microalgae benefit the consumers by increasing the proximate composition and a mineral constituent is an added advantage. The results clearly depicted that the treatment of Chlorella vulgaris resulted in the identification of economically feasible, ecofriendly foliar spray treatment for the augmenting the maximum yield in black grams.