Effect of Paclobutrazol on Succeeding Crop Summer Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L .) after Potato

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted at the District seed farm under Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal during summer season (February to May) of 2012 and 2013 to study the effect of paclobutrazol on succeeding crop summer groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) after potato. Paclobutrazol had no significant influence on plant height at the early stage but at a later stage upto 200 ppm of it significantly reduced the plant height upto 5–6 cm. Double spraying was more conducive than single spraying either at 30 DAE or at 50 DAE only. Higher dry matter production was found at 150 ppm of paclobutrazol with double spraying during all the growth stages; thereafter dry matter production decreased with a further increase in the doses of paclobutrazol. No significant influence was noticed on yield attributes for either single or double spraying of paclobutrazol. Paclobutrazol in different concentrations increased the pod yield upto 7–18% over control and significantly highest result was recorded with the application of 150 ppm of paclobutrazol with double spraying at 30 and 50 DAE. However, haulm yield did not vary significantly due to the application of paclobutrazol. It had also no significant influence on nitrogen uptake in groundnut plants but it had a positive response to increasing the phosphorus, potassium and oil content upto 100–150 ppm and double spraying was more advantageous as compared to single spraying. Application of 150 ppm paclobutrazol with double spraying at 30 and 50 DAE gave the highest net return: cost ratio.