Potassic Fertilizer Management on Groundnut

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is a unique and important legume-oilseed crop of Indian agricultural system which contributes about 40 per cent of area and 30 per cent of the production of oilseed crops. At present, India ranks 2nd after China with 33 per cent of world's total production, but the productivity is far below than the countries like China, Israel and USA because the crop is traditionally grown in dry land belt of India characterized by poor soil fertility, erratic rainfall and low input levels. Potassium has been described as the "quality element" for crop production which plays various metabolic functions in plants including photosynthesis, protein synthesis, enzyme activation. So the application of K along with existing recommendation of N and P is required to increase the groundnut production. In view of the increasing awareness of the multitudes of crucially important roles played by K in plants, the present study was undertaken to assess yield and nutritional responses of groundnut plants when grown at variable levels and sources of potassic fertilizers.