Root Nodulation in Groundnut as Influenced by varied Dates of Sowing, Plant Densities and Nutrient Levels

Author: C. Prathyusha, D. Subramanyam, G. Karuna Sagar, P. Sudhakar and G. Mohan Naidu

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Abstract

Productivity of groundnut is lower than expected due to lack of optimum plant population and imbalanced nutrient application. The efforts to enhance groundnut production can be achieved by increasing the root nodules formation. Various agronomic practices can influence the nodulation process and the consequent nitrogen fixation process which can lead to increased productivity of groundnut. A field experiment was carried out during rabi, 2019-20 and rabi, 2020-21 on sandy loam soils of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Utukur, Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh. The experimentation was laid out with three replications by adopting split split design. Groundnut variety Kadiri-6 was used for the investigation. The treatments include combination of three dates of sowing, four plant densities (plant spacing’s) and three nutrient levels. Dates of sowing did not exert significant influence on root nodulation in groundnut at all the stages of sampling. Among the different plant densities, 4.44 lakh ha-1 of plant population by maintaining plant spacing of 22.5 cm × 10 cm resulted significantly higher number of effective nodules per plant which was however comparable with 6.66 lakh ha-1 of plant population attained by maintaining the plant spacing of 15.0 cm × 10 cm. Significantly least nodulation was observed with the two plant spacings that accommodate 8.88 lakh ha-1 of plant population. Among the different nutrient levels, application of 150% RDF recorded significantly superior number of effective root nodules per plant which was at par with 125% RDF and both these nutrient levels were significantly superior over 100% RDF.

Keywords

Nodulation, Dates of Sowing, Plant densities, Plant spacing, Nutrient levels, Groundnut

Conclusion

From the present experimentation, it was concluded that among different plant densities, plant density of 4.44 lakh ha-1 by maintaining plant spacing of 22.5 cm × 10 cm resulted significantly higher number of effective nodules per plant which was closely followed by the plant density of 6.66 lakh ha-1 attained by maintaining the plant spacing of 15.0 cm × 10 cm. Among various nutrient levels, higher level of nutrients i.e., 150% RDF resulted in significantly superior number of effective root nodules plant-1, however at par with those resulted by application of 125% RDF to the groundnut crop. Future research can take in to consideration of seasonal variations and multilocations with a view to derive concrete recommendations for groundnut growers.

References

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How to cite this article

C. Prathyusha, D. Subramanyam, G. Karuna Sagar, P. Sudhakar and G. Mohan Naidu (2022). Root Nodulation in Groundnut as Influenced by varied Dates of Sowing, Plant Densities and Nutrient Levels. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 14(4): 509-512.