Effect of Phosphorus, Calcium and Boron on the Growth and Yield of Groundnut (Arachis hypogea L.)

The optimization of the mineral nutrition is the key to optimize the production of groundnut, as it has very high nutrient requirement and the recently released high yielding varieties take away still more nutrients from the soil. On contrary severe mineral nutrient deficiencies due to inadequate and imbalance use of nutrients is one of the major factors responsible for low yield in groundnut. Thus, to observe the effect of Phosphorus (P), Calcium (Ca) and Boron (B) on the growth and yield of groundnut cv. BARI Cheenabadam 7, fertilizer doses of P (P0=0, P1= 25 and P2=50 kg ha -1 ), Ca (Ca0=0, Ca1=110 and Ca2= 165 kg Ca ha -1 ) and B (0, 2 and 2.5 kg ha -1 ) were used. Among the growth parameters plant height, number of branches plant -1 , dry weight plant -1 , LAI and CGR were highest at 100 DAS in P2× Ca1× B2 treatment combination. Among the yield attributing characters number of total pods plant -1 was highest for P1× Ca2× B2, 100 pod weight plant -1 for P1× Ca2× B1, shelling percentage, pod yield, biological yield, straw yield and harvest index for P2× Ca1× B2. The lowest values of all these parameters were found at control treatment. The combined dose of P2, Ca1 and B2 produced the highest values for almost all the above parameters. Thus, it can be concluded that the fertilizer level for P, Ca and B should be 50 kg ha -1 , 110 kg ha -1 and 2.5 kg ha -1 , respectively for obtaining the highest yield of groundnut under this particular soil.