G.S.DasogN.K.Binitha2016-07-222016-07-222006http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/69223A study was conducted on the characterization of tank silts of North Karnataka and the effect of tank silt application on the growth and yield of groundnut. The tank silts were sampled from 33 tanks spread in six districts of North Karnataka. Clay dominated the tank silt in Bellary and Bidar districts. In Bagalkot district, the samples were dominated by sand due to sandstone parent rock. The pH was slightly alkaline in all the samples. EC was around 0.2 except in Haveri, which was very low. Nitrogen content was around 0.1 % in majority of the cases, for Bagalkot and Haveri, potassium was around 0.5 % in majority of the cases. Phosphorus content was also around 0.075 %. Among micronutrients, silt is rich in iron followed by copper, manganese and zinc. Quality of water sampled from these tanks was good. The properties of Kyasanakere tank silt was compared with its catchment. The coarse sand and fine sand content recorded similar values, silt content was higher in the catchment while clay was higher in the tank bed. Among the nutrients, the total N, P and Zn were higher in the tank bed silt than the catchment soil. The mineralogy of the clay and silt fraction indicated presence of mica, smectite, vermiculite, quartz, K and plagioclase feldspar in both tank silt and catchment soil. Plagioclase feldspars are more dominant than K feldspars in the silt and catchment soils. The incubation study reveled that the tank silt at 20 t ha-1 was significantly superior over 10 t ha-1 and no silt with respect to ammoniacal and nitrate N, available phosphorus sulphur and micronutrients. The field experiment was carried out at Muradi in Koppal district during rabi season of 2004-05 using silt from Ramdurga tank nearby. Tank silt at 20t ha-1 recorded significantly highest growth parameters, pod yield, haulm yield, yield attributes, major and micronutrient concentration, uptake and residual status in soil at all the crop growth stages.Thesis