RESEARCH PAPER Abstract : A field experiment was conducted at Horticultural Research Station, Nanjanadu farm Ooty to study the effect of Integrated Nutrient Management on yield and the soil microbial populations in garlic. The experiment was carried out ina Randomized Blocks Design with 9 treatments and three replications. The plot size of 12 m 2 was laid out. The experiment was conducted for three years from 2011 -13 and the pooled data was analysed. Pooled analysis was done for the three-harvest data (2011, 2012, 2013). All the organic manures like farm Yard Manure (FYM), Vermicompost (VC) and Poultry Manure (PM) and bio- fertilizers viz., Azospirillum and Phosphorus Solubilizing Bacteria each @ 5 kg each/ ha was applied as a basal as per the treatment. 50 % of the recommended inorganic applied as basal at the time of planting and the remaining 50 % N was applied in two equal splits during 30 and 45 days after planting. The full dose of P, K and S applied at the time of planting as per the treatment schedule. The treatments received three levels of FYM (15, 7.5,5 t -1 /ha), Poultry Manure (7.5,3.75,2.5 t -1 /ha) and Vermi Compost (7.5,3.75,2.5 t -1 /ha). Observations are recorded on no. of leaves, Equatorial Diameter (ED), Polar Diameter (PD), Average Bulb Weight (ABW), A-grade bulbs (AGB), B grade bulbs (BGB), C grade bulbs (CGB), Marketable yield (MY) and Total yield (TY). Soil samples were collected at two stages (bulbing and at harvest) for microbial populations of total bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes. Results were compared among the treatments for total yield of garlic. Results revealed that the highest total as well as marketable yield was recorded in T 9 (75:40:40:40 Kg NPKS + 5 t FYM / ha + 2.5 t PM + 2.5 t VC/ ha) and T 6 (75:40:40:40 Kg NPKS + 7.5 t FYM / ha + 3.75 t PM/ ha). Among the nine treatments significantly the maximum plant height (68.65 cm), the number of leaves (8.17), neck thickness (3.47 cm), polar diameter (40.03 mm), equatorial diameter (36.83cm), the average weight of 10 bulbs (203.34 g). B grade bulbs (51. 27 %), minimum C grade bulbs (16. 11%), marketable yield (8.52 tonnes/ ha), total yield (10.61 tonnes/ ha) was recorded in the T 9 followed by T 6 (9.72 tonnes /ha). The population of bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes were found to be maximum at the harvesting stage when compared to the bulbing stage under treatment T 9 . Key Words : Integrated nutrient management, Garlic, Microbial population, Yield, Catalase, Peroxidase, Enzyme activity View Point Article : Santhi, V.P., Pugalendhi, L. and Venkatesan, D. (2021). Effect of integrated nutrient management on yield and soil microbial population in garlic. Internat. J. agric. Sci., 17 (AAEBSSD) : 237-244, DOI:10.15740/HAS/IJAS/17-AAEBSSD/237-244. Copyright@2021: Hind Agri-Horticultural Society. Article History : Received : 29.07.2021; Revised : 30.07.2021; Accepted : 02.08.2021 Effect of integrated nutrient management on yield and soil microbial population in garlic V.P. Santhi*, L. Pugalendhi 1 and D. Venkatesan 2 Horticultural College and Research Station for Women, Trichy (T.N.) India (Email: Santhi@tnau.ac.in) INTRODUCTION Garlic belongs to the family, Alliaceae genus (Allium *Author for correspondence: 1 Horticultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore (T.N.) India 2 Horticultural Research Station, Ooty (T.N.) India sativum L.) is one of the important commercial spice or a condiment among the Allium species grown throughout International Journal of Agricultural Sciences Volume 17 | AAEBSSD | 2021 | 237-244  ISSN : 0973–130X  DOI:10.15740/HAS/IJAS/17-AAEBSSD/237-244 Visit us : www.researchjournal.co.in Click www.researchjournal.co.in/online/subdetail.html to purchase.