Effect and Interaction of Inter plant spacing, Seed rate and Weeding on Growth and Yield of Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea l.). Under irrigation

Abstract

The experiment was conducted in the College of Agricultural Studies Farm at Shambat during the summer seasons of 2002/2003 and 2003/2004. The objectives of the experiment were to study the effect and interaction of inter plant spacing, seed rate and weeding on growth and yield of groundnut, cultivar MH383,under irrigation. The treatments were, inter plant spacing(15 and 30 cm), seed rate(2 and 3 seeds/hole) and weeding treatments(weeded and unweeded). A completely randomized block design with four replicates was used. The results showed that unweeded treatment and closer inter plant spacing (15cm) significantly increased plant height and decreased number of branches/plant. Lower seed rate significantly increased number of branches/plant, but did not affect plant height. For the yield and yield components, weeding treatments showed significant increase in pod and kernel yield/ha, as well as, plant dry weight, pods number, 100- seed weight and shelling percentage. Number of seeds/pod was not affected. Closer inter plant spacing (15 cm) and higher seed rate (3 seeds/hole) treatments gave higher pod and kernel yield/ha, but decreased plant dry weight and pods number. Seed number/ pod, 100- seed weight and shelling percentage were unaffected by spacing and seed rate treatments Over all, the results showed that closer inter plant spacing, higher seed rate and weeding increased yield/ha.