Abstract

A pot experiment was carried out in the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Annamalai University with groundnut var. VRI 2 during June - September 2006, to evaluate different levels of boron along with organics on the yield of groundnut and nutrient availability in coastal sandy soil. The experimental soil was sandy in texture, taxonomically classified as Typic udipsaments with pH-8.39; EC-1.61 dS m-1 and represented low status of organic carbon and B. The treatments studied were T1-NPK; T2- NPK + Borax @10kg ha-1; T3- NPK + Borax @ 15 kg ha-1; T4-NPK + Borax @ 20 kg ha-1 and T5- NPK + Borax @ 25 kg ha-1. All the treatments received a common organic addition of composted coirpith @ 12.5 t ha-1. The experiment was arranged in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with four replications. The experimental results revealed that the application of NPK + Borax @ 15 kg ha-1 along with composted coirpith @12.5 t ha-1 was significant in increasing the nutrient availability, growth and yield of groundnut. The yield increase recorded with borax application @ 15 kg ha-1 along with CCP was 18.47 percentage of pod and 13.71 percentage of haulm as compared to control.

Keywords: Coastal Sandy Soils, organics, boron, nutrient availability, yield, groundnut