Abstract

An experiment was conducted in sandy soil to study the effect of organics and NPK levels on the nutrient uptake and yield of groundnut. The soil (0-15 cm) had the following characteristics viz., organic carbon- 0.27%, pH - 8.39, EC- 1.61 dS m-1, available alkaline KMnO4-N 128.32 kg ha-1, Olsen P- 10.23 kg ha-1 and NH4 OAc-K 196.74 kg ha-1. Four levels of NPK viz., no NPK, NPK (100%), NPK (125%) and NPK (150%) were the treatments under Factor A. Different sources of organics viz., control, composted coir pith (CCP) @ 12.5 t ha-1 and pressmud (PM) @ 12.5 t ha-1 were the treatments under Factor B. The treatments were replicated thrice in a Factorial Randomized Block Design (FRBD). The test crop was groundnut var. VRI 2. The experimental results indicated that 150% NPK level among the inorganics and composted coirpith @ 12.5 t ha-1 was significantly superior in increasing the uptake of nutrients by groundnut. This treatment combination also proved efficient in increasing the yield of groundnut by recording 2196 and 2930 kg ha-1 of pod and haulm.

Keywords: Coastal sandy soils, organics, nutrient uptake, yield, groundnut