Journal of Agricultural Science; Vol. 8, No. 5; 2016 ISSN 1916-9752 E-ISSN 1916-9760 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 141 Effect of Biofertilizer on Growth, Yield and Bioactive Component of Plumbago zeylanica (Lead Wort) Hetal D. Patel 1,2 , Ramar Krishnamurthy 1 & Musibau A. Azeez 3 1 C. G. Bhakta Institute of Biotechnology, Uka-Tarsadia University, Bardoli, Surat, Gujarat, India 2 12-Tamari Court, Randolph, New Jersey, USA 3 Department of Pure and Applied Biology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosa, Nigeria Correspondence: Hetal D. Patel, 12-Tamari Court, Randolph-07869, New Jersey, USA. Tel: 1-723-809-0251. E-mail: hetal_patel1603@yahoo.in Received: February 16, 2016 Accepted: March 24, 2016 Online Published: April 15, 2016 doi:10.5539/jas.v8n5p141 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/jas.v8n5p141 Abstract A comparative study on effect of chemical fertilizer and biofertiliser on Plumbago zeylanica for growth, yield and bioactive component was conducted at Bardoli (district-Surat), India between 2012 and 2013 using Random Block Design method and monthly observation of growth parameters. Application of biofertiliser Azotobacter, Azospirillum, Phosphate solubilizing Bacteria and mixture of Aza + Azo + PSB increased plant height, number of branches, number of leaves, length of root, fresh weight, dry weight and bioactive component (plumbagin). Highest effect on height (91.33±10.13) of plant was obtained with PSB applied biofertiliser whereas the number of branches (14.67±0.47) and number of leaves (25.60±13.17) was obtained with Azospirillum biofertilizer application. The length PSB (33.33±1.32), fresh weight (26.44±1.32) and dry weight of roots (24.66±1.13) was realized with application of mixture of Aza + Azo + PSB. The bioactive component (plumbagin) was high with application of Azospirillum (0.026%w/w) using HPLC. The results of this study suggest that biofertiliser have the potential to increase the growth, yield and bioactive component of Plumbago zeylanica. Keywords: Plumbago zeylanica, biofertiliser, azatobacter, Azospirillum, PSB, HPLC, plumbagin 1. Introduction India with its diverse ecological conditions accounts for 45,000 plant species out of which more than 8,000 species are used in some 10,000 herbal drug formulations. India contributes only a 2.5% share of the global plant-based drug trade. The demand is increasing fast and supply is putting unreasonable pressure on our wild phyto-resources (Naresh, 1999). Presently, organically produced raw materials of Medicinal and Aromatic plants are more prepared over that of herbs produced by synthetic chemical fertilizer application in the International Market. In agriculture, application of chemical fertilizers is always beneficial to the farmers due to easy availability, application and higher returns in terms of yield, but it is only short-term gain. Biofertiliser application are presently not able to replace, completely, chemical fertilizer but can be used to reduce substantially the high does synthetic fertilizer applications. One of the highly useful plants in the indigenous systems of medicine is Plumbago zeylanica commonly known as Ceylon, Lead wort, Chitra, Chitrak and Chitramoolan belonging to Plumbaginaceae family and one of the common plants used in Indian traditional system of medicine. A native of South Asia, the species is distributed throughout most of the tropics and subtropics; growing in deciduous woodland, savannas and scrub lands from sea level upto 2000 m altitude (Paras et al., 2014). The root is used as laxative, expectorant, astringent, abortifacient and in dysentery. Tinchure of root bark is used as antiperiodic. The leaves are caustic and used in treatment of scabies. Plumbagos are chemically characterized by the presence of napthoquinones, flavonoids, terpenoids and steroids, many of them being responsible for several biodynamic activities (Paras et al., 2014). P. zeylanica root is powerfully poisonous and its internal use is attended with great danger, it causes abortion. The root is sometimes given internally but more commonly employed as local irritant to the uteri (Sweta et al., 2015). By understanding importance of medicinal plants and organic farming, the present research was developed to investigate the feasibility of introducing plant as a regular other commercial crops with biofertiliser application under South Gujarat condition in India. It is aimed to study the yield and quality parameter of P. zeylanica,