Effect of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Growth-promoting Rhizobacteria on Yield, Nutrient Content and Uptake in Tomato under Vertisol Conditions
Tomato production requires adequate nutrient availability to sustain high yield and biomass production, while efficient nutrient acquisition remains important under reduced fertilizer inputs. The integration of AMF and PGPR offers a potential biological approach to improve nutrient acquisition and plant productivity. A field experiment was conducted during Rabi season of 2023-24 and 2024-25 at the Research Farm of the Vegetable Research Centre, Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth, Parbhani, Maharashtra, India to evaluate the effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on tomato yield, dry matter production, nutrient concentration and nutrient uptake under different fertilizer levels and methods of microbial application. The experiment comprised twelve treatments arranged in a randomized block design with three replications. Application of 75% RDF + AMF + Pseudomonas fluorescens + Bacillus megaterium + Trichoderma viride through soil application (T₁₂) consistently recorded the highest yield and nutrient accumulation. Pooled analysis showed that T₁₂ produced the maximum fruit yield (376.74 q ha⁻¹) and dry matter yield (46.34 q ha⁻¹). The treatment also recorded the highest N (1.97%), P (0.30%) and K (1.99%) concentrations, with corresponding N, P and K uptake of 91.43, 13.83 and 92.53 kg ha⁻¹, respectively. Compared with 100% RDF, T₁₂ increased fruit yield by 27.27%, demonstrating that the microbial consortium effectively complemented a 25% reduction in mineral fertilizer application. Soil application generally resulted in greater responses than seedling application, indicating more effective establishment and activity of the microbial inoculants in the rhizosphere. The integration of AMF and PGPR with 75% RDF can improve tomato productivity, biomass production and N, P and K accumulation while reducing mineral fertilizer input by 25% under Vertisol conditions.