Integrated nutrient management in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea l.) in acidic soils of Meghalaya
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Date
2020-09
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College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU-Imphal, Umiam
Abstract
To study the effect of integration of locally available organic sources (weed biomass, FYM) with inorganic fertilizers and biofertilizers on growth, yield and economics of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.), a field experiment was conducted on Research Farm of the College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences (CAU-Imphal), Umiam, Meghalaya during the Kharif, 2019. The experiment was conducted in RBD with nine treatments and three replications. Experimental soil was sandy clay loam in texture with pH 5.09, low in organic carbon and nitrogen, medium in phosphorus and low in potash. The experimental site experienced 2192.6 mm of rainfall, maximum and minimum temperature variation ranges from 23.3-27.5℃ and 16.4- 20.3℃, respectively while net radiation varied from 113.9 to 137.9 MJ m-2. Application of organic or inorganic sources and their integration significantly affected plant height, leaf area, leaf area index (LAI) and dry matter accumulation of experimental crop at all stages of observation. Crop developmental stages recorded as days taken to flowering, days taken to peg initiation and days taken to maturity did not differ markedly due to variation in treatments. Yield attributes differed markedly due to various integration of nutrient sources and maximum pods plant-1 (24.3), pod weight plant-1 (10.7), shelling% (71.1%) was recorded from the treatment T9 (integration of biofertilizers, inorganic fertilizers, dairy manure and Eupatorium green leaf manuring) which was at par with T3 (RDF) and significantly more over the remaining treatments, however, kernels pod-1 and test weight remained at par. Maximum pod yield, kernel yield and biological yield was also recorded from the treatment T9 which was at par with treatment T3) but significantly higher over remaining treatments while Harvest index remained at par. Nutrient uptake (N, P, K and S) and economic returns largely depend on economic and haulm yield, therefore, it also followed the same trend of yield. Treatment T9 recorded significantly higher net return over all the remaining nutrient treatment. However, B:C ratio was at par between T9 (2.11) and T3 (1.92) but recorded significantly more over the remaining treatments. Further, soil physico-chemical and bio-chemical properties also differed significantly due to integration of various nutrient management practices except pH and soil available K2O. An improvement in soil properties over their initial values was also recorded due to application of various nutrient treatments over the control. Treatment T9 left maximum soil organic carbon (1.38%), available nitrogen (325.7 kg ha-1), exchangeable Ca (2.12 cmol (+) kg-1) and Mg (1.06 cmol (+) kg-1) as compared to the remaining treatments but in case of available phosphorous (20.64 kg ha-1) and available sulphate (1.14 mg kg-1), it was at par with RDF. T9 also resulted in significantly more amount of DHA and PHA activity and SMBC, SMBN and SMBP after crop harvest.