Abstract

Peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L.) are the world’s fourth-most important source of edible oil and the third-most valuable source of high-quality vegetable protein; they also contain carbohydrates, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals essential for good human nutrition. Peanuts area particularly valuable crop in tropical and subtropical regions. While the demand for peanuts is increasing globally, there is a significant gap in nitrogen supply and demand in peanut production systems. To alleviate this, nitrogen fertilizers are often applied indiscriminately; this practice leads to the deterioration of indigenous soil fertility and to a long-term decline in crop productivity. Considering these aspects of soil health, a field study was conducted over two consecutive winter (November–March) seasons in 2015–2016 and 2016–2017 at the research farm of the agricultural university Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya in West Bengal, India. This study examined supplementing different levels of nitrogen fertilizer with rhizobium and soil mulch in an irrigated peanut crop. The effects of these management interventions were evaluated in terms of crop productivity, nutrient dynamics, soil moisture, and the soil microbial activity. Peanuts grown with the 100% recommended dose of nitrogen, which was applied with rhizobium and grown under polythene mulching, recorded the highest average pod yield (3.87 and 3.96 t ha−1 in 2015–2016 and 2016–2017) and average kernel yield (2.88 and 2.99 t ha−1) in both growing seasons. This treatment also resulted in the greatest accumulation of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium by the peanut plants. In contrast, the maximum soil moisture distribution and the greatest total root zone moisture content were observed in the treatment with only rhizobium under the polythene mulch (i.e., no nitrogen was applied). The populations of soil bacteria and rhizobia were highest in the treatment where nitrogen fertilizer was applied to the crop at 75% of the recommended rate combined with rhizobium and under polythene mulch. After two cropping seasons, the peanut crop grown under polythene mulch with rhizobium and with nitrogen fertilizer applied at either the full recommended rate or 75% of this rate performed best in terms of crop productivity, soil nutrient dynamics, and soil moisture.

Highlights

  • Peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L.) are a key oilseed and food-legume crop for both humans and livestock in tropical and subtropical regions

  • We evaluated the effect of Bradyrhizobium combined with different rates of inorganic N fertilizer under polythene mulching to assess the overall outcome on the agronomic sustainability of irrigated winter peanut production in terms of soil water, soil microbial populations, and peanut quality traits

  • Similar results were observed in terms of the number of pods observed per plant: the treatment with 100% recommended dose of nitrogen (RDN) combined with Rh under mulching recorded the highest number of pods per plant(30.57), while the treatment with only

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Summary

Introduction

Peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L.) are a key oilseed and food-legume crop for both humans and livestock in tropical and subtropical regions (i.e., between 40◦ N and 40◦ S). Peanuts are a key source of earnings for small and marginal farmers in developing countries [2]. Peanuts are grown in 120 countries over a total area of 20.4 m-ha [3]. India has the greatest amount of land (4.99 m-ha) under peanut production, and is second, after China, in annual productivity terms (7.39 MT annually) [4]. Growing peanuts in the winter (i.e., November to February) requires relatively high inputs (e.g., irrigation water) and increases production costs, but the yield of the crop grown at this time is almost double that grown during the rainy season (July to October)

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