Response of Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) under Different Phosphorus Management Options in Central Dry Zone of Karnataka

Abstract

Background: Phosphorus is considered as the second most important plant nutrient because of its significant role in various biochemical activities such as photosynthesis, respiration, root growth, energy storage, cell division etc. Phosphorus is required in greater amounts for pulse crops because of high demand in energy transfer molecules used in nitrogen fixation. Application of proper dose of phosphorus fertilizer is very crucial in deciding the productivity of the groundnut. The bioavailability of the phosphorus fertilizers mainly depends on the soil properties viz., pH, organic carbon, amount of Fe and Al oxides, CaCO3 and microbial load in the soil. In this context, the present study was designed to know the growth and yield parameter of groundnut by using appropriate combination of microbial culture with different levels of phosphorus at central dry zone of Karnataka. Methods: Field experiments were carried out for three consecutive years during 2018, 2019 and 2020 at Zonal Agricultural and Horticultural Research Station, Babbur farm, Hiriyur, Karnataka, India to study and understand the efficiency of DGRC culture (microbial culture) with different levels of phosphorus on groundnut under kharif season. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replication and ten treatments consisting of seed treatment with DGRC culture inoculants @ 20g/ kg groundnut seed (cv. TMV-2) with different doses of phosphorus (20 kg, 40 kg and 60 kg/ha). Result: Three years pooled results indicated that there was a significant response of pod yield (2457 kg/ha) and higher economics like gross return (Rs. 1,15,138/ ha), net return (Rs. 73,115/ha) and B:C ratio (2.76) were also profitable with the application of 40 kg/ha of P + DGRC culture as compared to other treatments. Furthermore, higher nutrient uptake viz., N (99.60 kg/ha), P2O5 (16.68 kg/ha) and K2O (58.86 kg/ha) were recorded in application of 40 kg/ha of P+DGRC culture.