Soil fertility effects on growth and nutrient uptake of rhizoma peanut

Abstract

Expansion of forage production acreage for rhizoma peanut (RP ‐ Arachis glabrata Benth.), a persistent perennial, warm‐season forage legume adapted to the Gulf Coast region of the southeastern United States, is limited primarily by establishment rate, often taking up to three years. The objective was to determine the effects of two divergent soil environments on the dry matter production and nutrient uptake of RP in the first year following establishment. Five Arachis genotypes, ‘Arbrook’, ‘Florigraze’, and experimental lines 423, 575, and 616, were established during March 1995 at Clinton and Olive Branch, LA. Soils were a Dexter silt loam (Ultic Hapludalf) and a Loring silt loam (Typic Fragiudalf, fine‐silty, mixed, thermic) with mean pH values of 6.8 and 4.7, respectively. Soils also differed for extractable potassium (K), sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), aluminum (Al), sulfur (S), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and organic matter (OM). Tissue samples were taken at three week intervals in 1996 and yield and quality were evaluated at six week intervals. Locations differed significantly for dry matter production, crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and in vitro true digestibility (IVTD). Entries also differed within locations for yield, CP, NDF, acid detergent fiber (ADF), and IVTD. Tissue nitrogen (N), K, Ca, S, Mn, boron (B), and zinc (Zn) were significantly different between locations, but phosphorous (P), magnesium (Mg), Fe, Cu, and Al were not different. Yield and forage quality were both inversely correlated with pH and, with the exception of N, none of the other nutrients were low enough to account for the differences observed in growth between the two locations.