EFFECT OF BIO-FERTILIZER AND BIOINOCULANT ON GROWTH, PHYSIOLOGY AND YIELD OF WILD GENOTYPES OF CARROT (DAUCUS CAROTA L.) UNDER DROUGHT STRESS

A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of plant growth promoting rhizobac-teria (PGPR) and carrier based bio-fertilizer on the morphological, physiological and biochemical activity in five different genotypes of carrot, grown under drought stress. It is evident from the results that both PGPR and carrier based bio-fertilizer have significantly enhanced the morphological and physiological parameters i.e. leaf area, fresh root weight, root length, root diameter and relative water contents to different extents as compared to those of drought stressed uninoculated plants. Similar responses were also recorded for peroxidase, phenylalanine ammonia lyase, polyphenol oxidase, total soluble sugars, reducing sugars, total soluble protein contents, fla-vonoids and carotenoids contents. Fresh weight of root was significantly higher in the PGPR and carrier based bio-fertilizer treatments under drought stress. It is inferred that use of (PGPR) and carrier based bio-fertilizer can be eco-friendly and economically suitable option for carrot growers of arid and semi-arid regions. Both the PGPR and the carrier based bi-ofertilizers ameliorated the adverse effects of drought stress on all the parameters in particular the root biomass.