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The quality of agricultural production and their modulation by biofertilizer application has gradually received attention. However, the importance of Bacillus strains has not been studied extensively especially in strawberry. The present investigation was carried out to study the effect of Bacillus strains on growth, yield and quality of strawberry cv. Chandler during the year 2016-17 and 2017-18. The study indicates that various Bacillus strains significantly influenced growth, yield and quality of fruits. Among different Bacillus strains, HCA61 strain recorded the significantly highest fruit yield per plant (233.69 g). It also recorded the highest value concerning different growth parameters, viz. plant height (12.56 cm), spread (22.78 cm), and number of leaves per plant (11.31), crown diameter (12.46 mm), fresh weight (43.86 g) and dry weight (12.36 g) of plant with a minimum number of days (79.50 days) to flower in strawberry plants. Among different yield attributing characters like number of fruits per plant (22.13), fresh weight of fruit (10.56 g), fruit length (40.31 mm), fruit breadth (28.83) and moisture content in fruit (92.83%), HCA61 strain showed superiority than other Bacillus strains. Regarding various physico-chemical characters, viz. TSS, acidity, ascorbic acid and anthocyanin content of fruits, Bacillus RCA3 strain exhibited significantly maximum values. The Bacillus strain HCA61 caused improved growth and yield. However, concerning physico-chemical characteristics of fruits Bacillus RCA3 strain was found best. The results indicated that inoculation with Bacillus strains could be an eco-friendly and cost-effective technology for improving strawberry growth, yield and quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genotype × environment (G × E) interaction is a common phenomenon in agricultural research and it is one of the main complications in the selection of a stable variety. The absence of G × E interaction coupled with high yield indicates that the genotypes are suitable for general adaptation in the range of considered environments. The present study was planned to study the association among various parametric and non-parametric stability measures, and to determine the most suitable methods for assessing the wheat genotypes yield stability. Five parametric and eleven non-parametric stability measures were used for analysis of genotype × environment interaction for grain yield of twenty four wheat genotypes, evaluated at five locations of Haryana in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Association among various stability measures was determined by Spearman’s rank correlation. Significant positive correlation was obtained between all possible pairs of CV, Rs, Rs1, Rs2, Si(3), Si(6) and it suggests that these parameters would play similar roles in stability ranking of genotypes. Dendrogram based on correlation coefficients between the 16 parametric and non-parametric measures including mean yield of 24 genotypes was used to group the stability measures into clusters. The genotypes PH13039, PH12032 and PBW 550 are the high yielding and most stable genotypes, which can be used widely in Haryana. Genotypes WH 711, PH13014 and PH11898 are the most undesirable genotypes having very low yield and least stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]