~ 2340 ~ Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2019; 8(6): 2340-2348 E-ISSN: 2278-4136 P-ISSN: 2349-8234 JPP 2019; 8(6): 2340-2348 Received: 01-09-2019 Accepted: 05-10-2019 Kalpana Agriculture Microbiologist (M.Sc. Ag. Microbiology) SHIATS, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India Jane C Benjamin Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology and Fermentation technology, SHIATS, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India Surendra Kumar Ojha Agriculture Microbiologist (M.Sc. Ag. Microbiology) SHIATS, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India Corresponding Author: Kalpana Agriculture Microbiologist (M.Sc. Ag. Microbiology) SHIATS, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India Co-inoculation effect of vermicompost and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria ( Azotobacter Sp.) on the growth of chilli ( Capsicum annuum L.) Kalpana, Jane C Benjamin and Surendra Kumar Ojha Abstract The present investigation was aimed to determine the “Co-inoculation effect of Vermicompost & Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria on the growth of chilli (Capsicum annuum)” by pot experiment method, which was carried out in green house of School of Forestry. The growth parameters selected for study were Plant height, Root length (cm), Number of leaves/plant, Number of branches/plant, Number of fruits/plant and Weight of fruit (g). Vermicompost were produced by Earthworms species, (Lumbricus rubellus) on vegetable waste. The experiment was conducted in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with 6 replications. The treatment comprised of T0: (Normal seed without any amendment), T1: Vermicompost (1kg), T2: 100% Recommended dose of NPK, T3: PGPR (Azotobacter sp.) treated seed, T4: Vermicompost (1kg) + PGPR (Azotobacter sp.) treated seed, T5: Vermicompost (1kg)+ 50% Recommended dose of NPK +PGPR (Azotobacter sp.) treated seed. The treatment T5 Vermicompost (1kg) + 50% Recommended dose of NPK +PGPR (Azotobacter sp.) treated seed. showed significantly the best result in plant height (151 cm), number of leaves/plant(330), number of branches/plant(82.40), number of fruits/plant (8.33), weight of fruits/plant (g) (2.75 gm), root length (cm)(17.50cm) followed by T4 Vermicompost(1kg)+ PGPR (Azotobacter sp.) treated seed, when compared with other treatments. Azotobacter sp. was shown to be a plant growth promoting agent for (Capsicum annuum). Hence, major research focus should be on the production of efficient and sustainable bio-fertilizers for crop plants, where inorganic fertilizer application can be reduced significantly to improve soil health. Keywords: NPK, vermicompost, biofertilizer, PGPR, Azotobacter sp. Introduction Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) is one of the important vegetable-cum-spices crop of India. It has different types of protein, vitamin, and ascorbic acid contents, and is good source of medicinal potential. This crop is very important for agricultural economy and is used in processing industries. It is rich in ascorbic acid and known for its pungency. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (FAO, 2003) [14] , Vermicompost which contains microsite rich in available carbon and nitrogen (Sudhakar et al., 2002) [33] . Worm cast incorporated soils are also rich in water soluble (Gratt, 1970) [16] and contain two to three times more available nutrients than surrounding soils (Sudhakar et al., 2002) [33] Evidence of the beneficial effects of PGPR has been accumulating for the past 150 years (Berg, 2009) [5] . Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) have been demonstrated to increase growth and productivity of many commercial crops including rice (Ashrafuzzaman et al., 2009) [3] , wheat (Khalid et al., 2004) [14] , cucumber (Maleki et al., 2010) [23] , maize (Sandhya et al., 2010) [32] , cotton (Anjum et al., 2007) [7] There is also evidence that humic acids extracted from vermicompost stimulated increase in the number of roots, giving the plant ability to scavenge nutrient from the growing environment for growth and development. (Densilin et al., 2010) [10] Nitrogen fixation is mainly responsible for improvement of crop yield. In this regard Azotobacter promotes plant growth as well as nitrogen fixation. Besides N 2 fixation they also produce Siderophores and antifungal substances and plant growth regulates such as hormones and vitamins. Materials and Methods Procurement and Identification of Earthworm Earthworms was identified by the given characteristics: Earthworm (Lumbricus rubellus) come under family Lumbricidae. It is a slightly medium sized (10 -15cm) partially their reddish-brown color.