 |
Online ISSN : 2349-8080 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorinchiefijcrbp@gmail.com |
2Department of Geology, School of Mines, The University of Zambia, P.O. Box 32379, Lusaka, Zambia
3Department of Soil Science, School of Agricultural Sciences, The University of Zambia, P.O. Box 32379, Lusaka, Zambia
A field experiment was conducted to determine the effect of combining Ca, N and P on yield of groundnuts. The 33 factorial experiment involved applying the nutrient-elements at three levels of P at P0, P30 and P60 kg P ha-1; Ca at Ca0, Ca100 and Ca200 kg Ca ha-1 and three levels of starter N at N0, N10 and N20 kg N ha-1. Treatment combinations were randomly allocated in each of the three blocks. Groundnut variety MGV 5 was grown as a sole-crop for two consecutive growing seasons of 2014/15 and 2015/16. Results revealed that application of Ca, N and P either alone or in combination resulted in significant increase in the 100 seed weight and yields of haulm, pods and kernels of groundnuts. The application of the fertilizer combination at the rate of Ca200N20P60 kg ha-1 had an additive synergistic effect on MGV 5 and consequently resulted in the highest kernel yield of 4.18 t ha-1, pod yield of 6.72 t ha-1, haulm yield of 5.87 t ha-1 and the highest 100 seed weight of 102.7 g. It was, therefore, concluded that the fertilizer combination of Ca200N20P60 kg ha-1 is appropriate for obtaining optimum yields of groundnuts.
