Effect of Date of Sowing and INM (Integrated Nitrogen Management) on Growth and Yield of Summer Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

A Field experiment was conducted during Zaid 2022 with a goal to evaluate the effect of date of sowing and integrated nitrogen management on growth and yield of summer groundnut (Arachis hypogaea). The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with ten treatments each replicated thrice at Crop Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (SHUATS), Prayagraj - 211007, (U.P.) which is located at 25.28oN latitude, 81.54oE longitude and 98 m altitude above the Mean Sea Level (MSL) for 100 days. The soil of experimental plot was sandy loam in texture, nearly neutral in soil reaction (pH 7.4), low in organic carbon (0.58%), available N (225 kg.ha-1), available P (32.30 kg.ha-1) and available K (350 kg.ha-1). The treatment consists of 5 levels of INM [100% RDN through inorganic, 100% RDN through FYM, 100% RDN through Vermicompost, 50% RDN (inorganic) + 50% RDN (FYM), 50% RDN (inorganic) + 50% RDN (Vermicompost)] as basal application and 2 Dates of Sowing (1st and 15th April), whose effect was observed on groundnut. The result showed that growth parameters of Groundnut viz., maximum plant height (72.00 cm), dry weight (41.54 g/plant), crop growth rate (15.05 g/m2/day), relative growth rate (0.014 g/g/day) and yield and yield attributes viz., number of pods/plant (48.00), number of seeds/pod (2.13), seed index (43.66 g), seed yield (3.14 t/ha), haulm yield (7.03 t/ha) and harvest index (30.62%) was recorded significantly higher with application of treatment 5 S1(1ST April) + 50% RDN (inorganic) + 50% RDN (Vermicompost). The maximum net returns (90,793 ₹/ha) and B:C ratio (2.73) was recorded with application of S1(1ST April) + 50% RDN (inorganic) + 50% RDN (Vermicompost).