Supplementing Nitrogen in Combination with Rhizobium Inoculation and Soil Mulch in Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Production System: Part I. Effects on Productivity, Soil Moisture, and Nutrient Dynamics

Abstract

Peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L.) are the world’s fourth-most important source of edible oil and the third-most valuable source of high-quality vegetable protein; they also contain carbohydrates, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals essential for good human nutrition. Peanuts area particularly valuable crop in tropical and subtropical regions. While the demand for peanuts is increasing globally, there is a significant gap in nitrogen supply and demand in peanut production systems. To alleviate this, nitrogen fertilizers are often applied indiscriminately; this practice leads to the deterioration of indigenous soil fertility and to a long-term decline in crop productivity. Considering these aspects of soil health, a field study was conducted over two consecutive winter (November–March) seasons in 2015–2016 and 2016–2017 at the research farm of the agricultural university Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya in West Bengal, India. This study examined supplementing different levels of nitrogen fertilizer with rhizobium and soil mulch in an irrigated peanut crop. The effects of these management interventions were evaluated in terms of crop productivity, nutrient dynamics, soil moisture, and the soil microbial activity. Peanuts grown with the 100% recommended dose of nitrogen, which was applied with rhizobium and grown under polythene mulching, recorded the highest average pod yield (3.87 and 3.96 t ha−1 in 2015–2016 and 2016–2017) and average kernel yield (2.88 and 2.99 t ha−1) in both growing seasons. This treatment also resulted in the greatest accumulation of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium by the peanut plants. In contrast, the maximum soil moisture distribution and the greatest total root zone moisture content were observed in the treatment with only rhizobium under the polythene mulch (i.e., no nitrogen was applied). The populations of soil bacteria and rhizobia were highest in the treatment where nitrogen fertilizer was applied to the crop at 75% of the recommended rate combined with rhizobium and under polythene mulch. After two cropping seasons, the peanut crop grown under polythene mulch with rhizobium and with nitrogen fertilizer applied at either the full recommended rate or 75% of this rate performed best in terms of crop productivity, soil nutrient dynamics, and soil moisture.

Impact of Level of Nitrogen Fertilization and Critical Period for Weed Control in Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

“…Given the great importance of nitrogen (N) to the plant and the importance of eliminating weeds that greatly reduce crop productivity, these two factors were chosen to study the potential positive influences of supplying peanut plants with different levels of N fertilizer in conjunction with annual weed control away from the use of herbicides that harm all beneficial organisms, as well as humans and animals. In this study, N was applied at appropriate rates [29] to the tested saline soil (8.99 dS m −1 ; Table 1) to compensate the peanut plant for its inability to fix the atmospheric N 2 under these adverse conditions. Applying the highest level of N (N 3 = 144 kg N ha −1 ) may represent a useful strategy for plants to withstand the adverse conditions of the soil used in the current study (Table 1), given that this soil is salt-affected (EC = 8.99 dS m −1 ) and tends to be calcareous (CaCO 3 = 7.98%).…”

“…The dried pods were hand-shelled, the seeds weighed, and the differences between pods and seed weights of all treatments were used to compute the shelling percentage (%). The shelling (%) was determined based on the weight of the peanut seeds divided by the weight of the pods [29] as follows: Shelling (%) = (weight of seeds/weight of pods) × 100 (1) Table 3 displays the growing degree days that were recorded by the Fayoum meteorological station. GDDs were cumulative from the date of sowing with respect to the 10 • C base temperature [30].…”

Indigenous Knowledge of Peanut Cultivation of the Ethnic Khmer Resident in the Mountainous Area in An Giang Province, Vietnam

“…For example, during the summer-autumn crop in 2021, the area of peanut cultivation in the Vinh Thuong hamlet will be around 3.6 hectares, with fresh and dried peanut plant weights of approximately 56 tons and 11.52 tons, respectively. According to Mondal et al [27], the highest yield of dry peanut haulm is 3.8 tons.ha -1 . In addition, protein, fat, and fiber ratios in peanut haulm are 13.94%, 5.11%, and 53.65% of the total.…”

Modelling nitrogen management in hybrid rice for coastal ecosystem of West Bengal, India

“…Almost 75% of leaf N is associated with chloroplasts that control photosynthesis and subsequent plant dry matter production ( Li et al, 2017 ). Several enzymatic activities, cell division and expansion are also regulated by N ( Mondal et al, 2020a ). However, a high rate of N fertilization is observed in farmers’ fields practically because of the low cost of nitrogenous fertilizer ( Majumdar et al, 2017 ).…”