*3.5. Phosphorus Concentration in Bitter Gourd*

<sup>E</sup>ffect of PGPRs and RNPKF under 2 and 5 mg kg−<sup>1</sup> soil was significant (*<sup>p</sup>* <sup>≤</sup> 0.05) on phosphorus concentration of bitter gourd (PB). Treatments RNPKF, RNPKF + *S. maltophilia*, RNPKF + *A. fabrum,* and RNPKF differed significantly at 5 mg Cd kg−<sup>1</sup> soil over control for PB (Figure 11). Application of RNPKF and PGPRs showed a significant main effect on PB at 2 mg Cd kg−<sup>1</sup> soil. At 5 mg Cd kg−<sup>1</sup> soil, PGPRs and RNPKF have a significant main and interactive effect on PB. Ordinal interaction was found between PGPRs and RNPKF at 2 mg Cd kg−<sup>1</sup> soil but significant ordinal interaction was observed at 5 mg Cd kg−<sup>1</sup> soil (Figure 12A,B) for PB. Cadmium showed a significant negative correlation (−0.6614; *p* = 0.0001) with BDP. However, PGPR (0.2537; *p* = 0.1953) showed non-significant and RNPKF (0.4422; *p* = 0.0069) showed significant positive correlation with PB (Figure 13). The maximum increase of 29.5% in PB was observed from control where RNPKF + *A. fabrum* was applied at 2 mg Cd kg−<sup>1</sup> soil.

**Figure 11.** Phosphorus concentration in bitter gourd (%) treated with PGPRs, RNPKF, and their combination under 2 and 5 mg Cd kg−<sup>1</sup> soil. Different small letters express significant differences (*p* ≤ 0.05).

**Figure 12.** Interaction graphs of *S. maltophilia* (NS1), *A. fabrum* (NS2), and RNPKF at 2 (**A**) and 5 mg Cd kg−<sup>1</sup> soil (**B**) for phosphorus concentration in bitter gourd (PB).
