Effect of Soil and Foliar Application of Micronutrients on Yield parameters of Groundnut (K-6) (Arachis hypogaea L.) in Red Sandy loamy Soils

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.)is one of the important legume and oilseed crops of tropical and semiarid tropical countries, where it is a major source of edible oil and vegetable protein. Groundnut kernels contain 47-53 % oil, 25-30 % protein, 20 % carbohydrates and 5 % fiber and ash, and make a substantial contribution to human nutrition. Its oil cake is used as an important nutrient rich cattle feed. Inclusion of groundnut in cropping sequence serves as an important rotation crop as it fixes atmospheric nitrogen and increases the fertility of soil.

Globally, groundnut cultivation is mainly confined to Asia. India ranks first in terms of groundnut output area and second in terms of production volume. The global production of groundnut is 47.02 million metric tons (USDA2018-19). In India, groundnut is cultivated in an area of 4.91 million hectares producing 9.18 million tonnes with a productivity of 1868 kg ha-1 (Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, GOI, 2018-19). It is India'stop oilseed product and is also referred to as peanut, monkey nut, and manila nut. In the world, groundnuts are used for 12% seed purposes, 37% confectionery uses, and 50% oil extraction uses. Approximately 46.70 percent of groundnuts are used for oil production, according to Satish et al. Major production constraints which could be attributed to lower productivity of groundnut in India are mainly due to low fertile marginal lands with low input supply, low plant population, incidence of pests and diseases, imbalanced use of nutrients and lack of application of micronutrients especially zinc, iron and boron. In India, multi-nutrient deficiencies are widely causing poor crop yields (Singh, 2009a).Groundnut responds well to secondary and micronutrient fertilization. The estimated yield loss in groundnut due to the deficiencies of Fe, Zn and Bin India are 10-22, 30-40% and 16-26%respectively.Therefore, it is most essential to pay a great attention to the nutrition of the groundnut to enhance its productivity. Soil analysis of Indian fields has indicated that they are medium to low in the iron, zinc and boron content, which are found to play an important role in plant nutrition. The micronutrients are applied by both soil and foliar methods. The most significant advantage of soil-applied nutrients is that this method supplies nutrients where the plants are designed to take in nutrientsi.e., at the roots. The roots of higher plants are adapted to uptake nutrients and water from the soil and distribute them throughout the plant through the plant‘sconductive tissues. The foliar applied nutrients promote rapid uptake of nutrients as these nutrients are applied directly to the plant rather than the soil. Now the studies on independent use of these micronutrients and combined effect of these nutrients on yield and yield attributes is well documented, in groundnut production.