ABSTRACT
Evaluation of the
effect of different tillage method, soil physical properties growth and yield
of groundnut was carried out at the research and teaching farm of Federal
Collage of Agriculture Ishiagu Ebonyi state in 2017 cropping season. The
treatments which consist of five (5) different tillage practices, no till, bed,
plough, ridge, and mound were built into randomized complete block design
(RCBD) with 3 replicate. The bulk of the soil (0.20cm) was collected from the
experimental field and was subjected to laboratory analysis before application
of treatment and at after harvest. The soil parameters studied was soil bulk
density, porosity, mean weight diameter (mwd) and saturated hydraulic
conductivity (ksat). The plant parameter studied were number of leaves, number
of branches, establishment count, and pod weight. The result shows that number
of leaves was significant (p<0.05) different among the treatments at 2WAP.
At 4WAP Bed gave the highest mean value of 95.31. Followed by mound with mean
value of 91.54 also number of branches were not significant (p>0.05) at 2
and 4 WAP bed and plough gave the highest mean value of 1.75, and 1.94, 5.63
and 5.58 respectively, equally the different tillage practice was not
significant on pod weight but among the treatment ridge gave the highest value
of 3.67, followed by plough with value of 2.83. The different tillage practice influenced
the soil properties studied.
CHAPTER
ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Groundnut (Arachis hypogea L) is a leguminous crop grown mainly for it edible
seeds. It is widely grown in tropics and
subtropics, being important to both small holder and large commercial
producers. It is classified as both a
grain legume. Hymowitz, (1990) and
because of its higher oil content, an oil crop (European Biofuels Technology
2015) world annual production is about 46 million tonnes per year. A typically among crop plants, groundnut pods
develop under the ground. It is this
characteristic that the botanist Linnaeus used to assign the specific name
hypogaea which mans under the earth.
As a legume, peanut belong to the
botanical family fabaceae also known as legumous and commonly known as the bean
or pea family. Cultivated groundnut
(Arachis hypogea L) arose from a hybrid between two wild species of peanut
thought to be Arachiduranensis and Arachisipaensis (Kochert et al.,
(1996). To increase the productivity of
groundnut proper soil managemet practice such as tillage have been suggested by
several authors (Moher& Callaway, 1995 Kouwenhoven et al., 2002) to improve
crop growth productivity through enhancing water and nutrient uptake. Several water conservation methods of
preventing evaporation from soil surface have been reported, there include uses
of different tillage methods at different dates of initial seedbed preparation
(Verplance et al., 2009). Tillage
methods are one of the most influential technical factors on the outcome of a
crop, since if changes both the physical properties and the moisture content of
the soil. Certain tillage improve some
soil physical properties and soil fertility as well as increase the
conservation of soil moisture. Some
researchers found that deep tillage reduce soil strength and soil bulk density
(Laddha and Fotway and Dexter 1991), as well as increased crop production
(Ghose et al.,2016). In contrast to the
above reports found that soil condition under a no tillage conservation system
were better than those under conventional system in aid and semi-arid
environments.
Therefore tillage is one of the
important processes in agriculture. It
is carried out mainly to loosen the upper layer of soil, to mix the soil with
fertilizer and organic residues, to control weeds, and to create a suitable
seedbed for germination and plant growth (Rasmussen, 1999). According to develop a desirable soil
structure or suitable tilth for a seedbed.
Tillage is crucial for groundnut establishment, growth and ultimately
yield. A good soil management programme
such as tillage protects the soil from water and wind erosion, provides a good,
weed-free seedbed for planting of maize, root development, and allows
maintenance or even and increase of organic matter (Wright, et al., 2008).
1.2 Problem Statement
One of the problems involves in the
production of groundnut in seed bed preparation. It is observed that in Ishiagu and elsewhere
farmers adopt different tillage practices in the production of groundnut. While some farmer adopt bed, ridge or mound,
others adopt plough and harrow or zero tillage.
In manual tillage operation, the labourers charge different rate for
each of them while little or no charge is involved in zero tillage for
instance, the time and cost of making a mound is different from that of ridge
or flat bed. Again the cost of seedbed
preparation is more costly in employing mechanical means due to high cost of
fuel. In view of the above highlighted problem this work will be designed to
investigate the effect of different manual tillage practices namely bed, ridge,
mound, zero till, plough, plough andharrow on the growth and yield of groundnut
in the field.
1.3 Objective of Study
The
Board Objective of the Study is:
To determine the effect of different
tillage practices on soil physical properties, growth and yield of groundnut
(Arachishypogaea)
The
Specific Objectives are:
1.
to determine the effect of different
tillage practices on the soil physical properties.
2.
to determine the effect of different
tillage practices on the growth of groundnut.
3.
to determine the best method that will
give optimum yield of groundnut.
1.4 Justification
In view of increasing high cost of
production, farmers require the most effective practice to reduce cost of
production and increase output and economic returns. This identification of appropriate tillage
practices in production of groundnut will of be high benefit to the farmer. It will not only increase their economic
returns but will also encourage them to expand their scope of production and
output. This will in turn increase
groundnut availability and encourage the establishment of groundnut, processing
industries, while these industries will help to reduce unemployment by absorbing
many of our jobless graduates.
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