Response of Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) to Different Levels and Time of Phosphogypsum Nutrition

Background: Groundnut is one of the most important oilseed crops of India. Improving productivity of groundnut to meet the domestic vegetable oil demand through balanced fertilization is the prime challenge lying before the agronomists in the country. With the aim of evaluating phosphogypsum as a source of sulphur nutrition in groundnut, a field experiment entitled “Response of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) to different levels and time of phosphogypsum nutrition” was conducted at Agronomy field unit, University of Agricultural Sciences Bangalore, during kharif-2019. Methods: Experiment was laid out in randomised complete block design (RCBD) with eleven treatments, of which eight have different combinations of phosphogypsum applied as basal and in split (30 DAS) and one with gypsum as basal alone. Whereas, the remaining two treatments, without any additional source of sulphur are included for comparison. Result: Among eleven treatments, application of phosphogypsum @ 125 kg S eq ha-1 in split recorded highest yield attributes, pod yield (2063 kg ha-1), kernel yield (1418 kg ha-1) and sulphur uptake (11.33 kg ha-1). Which were on par with 100 kg S eq ha-1 in split (2014, 1380 and 10.39 kg ha-1, respectively). All other treatments recorded lower values with lowest in treatments without any additional sulphur source.

Evaluation of the Sulphur-Supplying Ability of Soils to Support Plant Growth and Assessment of Relative Crop Response to Sulphur Application through Neubauer Technique

Sulphur plays a vital role in the nutrition of oilseeds and pulses. Along with nitrogen and phosphorus, it plays an important role in the formation of proteins and is involved in the metabolic and enzymatic processes of all living cells. Several biological techniques have been studied in order to assess sulphur deficiency or sufficiency in different groups of sulphur fertilizer for achieving the optimum yield of crops of which Neubauer technique is generally considered as one such tool that can be used for piloting the sulphur supplying capacity of the soils to supplement its requirement for the establishment of the plant. Surface (0-15 cm) soil samples from typical rice and pulse growing fields spread over the dominant soil groups of West Bengal which belong under 16 identified soil series were collected for this study. In order to assess sulphur availability in soils Neubauer technique was employed. Under sulphur treatment, the lowest dry matter yield and uptake by shoot was recorded in Bankul soil. Among the soils, the lowest root dry matter yield at control treatment was recorded in patapahari soil and the highest was in Hijalgara soil. A similar trend was also observed in case of S uptake by the shoot. While highest dry matter yield and maximum sulphur uptake by shoot was registered in Sukhnibasa and kusmi soil respectively. Likewise for N, P and K elements, the Neubauer technique may be used as one of the biological techniques for evaluating S response to crops as well as S supplying capacity of the soil to support plant growth.

Yield and nutrient uptake in niger (Guizotia abyssinica) as influenced by different levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur

A field experiment was conducted during the Rabi seasons of 2016-17 and 2017-18 at Instructional-Cum-Research (ICR) Farm, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat to study the effect of different levels of primary major nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) as well as secondary nutrient (sulphur) on the uptake of the same by niger and yield of the crop. The experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block Design and replicated thrice. The treatments consisted of three NPK levels viz., F1 (20-10-10 kg N-P2O5-K2O ha-1), F2 (25-12.5-12.5 kg N-P2O5-K2O ha-1), F3 (30-15-15 kg N-P2O5-K2O ha-1) and three sulphur levels viz., S1 (no sulphur), S2 (10 kg S ha-1), S3 (20 kg S ha-1). Application of F3 (30-15-15 kg N-P2O5-K2O ha-1) and S3 (20 kg sulphur ha-1) significantly increased the nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur uptake by seed and stover as well as their total uptake by niger as compared to other treatments during both the years of study. Seed yield and protein content (%) of seed of niger were also increased significantly by application of F3 (30-15-15 kg N-P2O5-K2O ha-1) and S3 (20 kg sulphur ha-1) as compared to other treatments during both the years. Interaction effects of NPK (F) and sulphur (S) were found to be significant in respect of seed yield, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur uptake by seed as well as total nitrogen uptake by niger during both the years and phosphorus uptake by niger was found to be significant only in the first year of study.

Content and Uptake of Ash and Selected Nutrients (K, Ca, S) with Biomass of Miscanthus × giganteus Depending on Nitrogen Fertilization

Fertilisation has a significant impact not only on the yielding, but also on the quality of the harvested biomass. Among energy crops, Miscanthus × giganteus are some of the most important plants used for combustion process. The chemical composition of biomass has significant impact on the quality of combustion biomass. The effect of nitrogen fertilisation (with dose of 60 kg N ha−1) in different terms of biomass sampling on the content and uptake of crude ash, potassium, calcium and sulphur by rhizomes, stems, leaves and the aboveground part of miscanthus was evaluated in the paper. Nitrogen fertilisation contributed to the increase of ash content in the rhizomes and the aboveground part of plants. Independently of nitrogen fertilisation potassium content decreased in the whole vegetation period; in the case of stems this decrease amounted 60%. Calcium content in various parts of plants was highly differentiated compared to potassium content. Average calcium content in the aboveground parts was 2.68 higher compared to rhizomes. Nitrogen fertilisation affected significantly on potassium, calcium and sulphur uptake in all examined parts of plants (except stems in the case of calcium uptake). Uptake of crude ash under nitrogen fertilisation was significantly higher in all examined parts of plants during the whole vegetation period.

Screening groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) genotypes for sulphur efficiency

A field experiment was conducted on a sandy clay soil to screen eighteen groundnut genotypes for their sulphur (S) efficiency and to know its effect on growth, yield and sulphur availability and uptake. There were two levels of sulphur (0 and 40 kg ha-1) applied as gypsum basally and replicated thrice in a randomized block design. Results revealed that inclusion of 40 kg S ha-1 as gypsum significantly improved the growth and yield attributes of all the groundnut genotypes besides increasing the kernel and haulm yield. Soil available sulphur and sulphur uptake by the genotypes were also considerably improved by sulphur addition which differs widely among them. Several indices were computed for assessing the sulphur efficiency and found that, the genotypes, VRI 6, CO 7, TMV 7, TMV 13, VRI 5, VRI 3, CO2 and CO 6 were found efficient and responsive for sulphur application while VRI 8, and TMV 10 were inefficient but found responsive. However the varieties such as Local, VRI 4, CO 3, VRI 2, VRI 7, TMV 2, ALR 3 and BSR 1 were highly non responsive and inefficient in utilizing the applied sulphur.

PENGARUH PEMBERIAN DOLOMIT TERHADAP BEBERAPA SIFAT KIMIA TANAH GAMBUT DAN PERTUMBUHAN SERTA HASIL TANAMAN BAWANG MERAH (Allium ascalonicum L)

This research was aimed to study the effect of dolomite on chemical properties of peat soil and as well as on growth and yield of onion. The research was in form of pot experiment having 5 treatments (0 ton dolomite Ha-1 ; 2.5 ton dolomite Ha-1 ; 5 ton dolomite Ha-1 ; 7.5 ton dolomite Ha-1 ; 10 ton dolomite Ha-1) and 3 replications which were allocated in Completely Randomized Design. Parameters analyzed were pH H2O, available sulphur, available phosphorus, CEC, and exchangeable cations, as well plant height, plant dry weight, sulphur uptake, and diameter of tubers. Data resulted were analyzed the variance using F-test at 5% level of significance and then it was continued using Duncan New’s Multiple Range Test (DNMRT) at 5% level if F-test > F-table. The results showed that 10 ton dolomite Ha-1was the optimum dose to improve chemical characteristics of peat soils. It increased pH H2O by 1.16 unit, sulphur uptake by 0.005 %, available phosphorus by 5.7 ppm, CEC by 9.67 Cmol Kg-1 and exchangeable K by 0.09 Cmol Kg-1, Mg by 0.19 Cmol Kg-1, Ca by 0.31 Cmol Kg-1 compared to soil without treatment ( 0 ton Ha-1 ). It also increased production of onion, especially plant height by 22.63 cm, plant fresh weight by 43.14 g and dry weight by 2.89 g, tuber fresh weight by 21.92 g, and dry weight by 2.89 g, sulphur uptake by 0.03 %, and diameter of tubers from none to be 2.00 cm compared to soil without treatment.Key words : dolomite, peat soils, onion, soil chemical characteristics