Paper Title
Bio-Fertilizer Consortia Consisting of PGPR’S and Am-Fungi Facilitating Growth and Nutrient Uptake of Finger Millet and Pigeon Pea Plants Under Water Stress Condition

Abstract
We studied plant growth and phosphorus uptake by shallow rooted finger millet and deep rooted pigeon pea crop under water stress condition in presence of the bio-fertilizer network. To address the terms of trade in a bio-fertilizer experiment, we demonstrated a setup system consisting of two plant individuals growing side by side, inoculated with AMF. PGPRs were inoculated in high nutrients substrate (organic soil), separated by nylon mesh (25 μm) in a distant compartment, 3 cm away from the plants (horizontal setup I). In the setup, plants with AMF inoculation were able to connect to rich nutrient PGPRs compartment through AMF hypha, taking the nutrients mobilized from PGPRs, in exchange of given moisture under water stress condition. However, in vertical type of setups (setup 2), we have observed the bio-fertilizer network to facilitate nutrient mobilized by plant growth promoting rhizobacteria and moisture via mycorrhizal hypha to shallow rooted finger millet from a deep-rooted pigeon pea plant under water stress condition. The outcome was significantly different in fertilizer inoculated set-up treatments as compared to non-inoculated ones. The result shows that the bio-fertilizer inoculated set-up’s produced higher yield in terms of dry root & shoot weight of host plants under well and moderate water condition compared to non-inoculated set-up’s. The result also shows that the bio-fertilizer inoculation increase plant tolerance against water deficient conditions. The consequences clearly indicate that phosphorus content in the plant tissue shows the same picture as the plant biomass. Bio fertilizer inoculation enhances the P-content and reduces the relative variation (reduction) of measured plant parameters when plants are exposed to draught conditions. The results show that the roots of the host plants (finger millet and pigeon pea) are well colonized by AMF. Water deficiency condition did not affect the AMF root colonization of the host plants. Keywords- Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), Intercropping, Drought, Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), Finger millet (Eleusine coracana), Water stress, Biofertilizer, Facilitation