Browsing by Author "Lugaila, Mariam Seif"

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Influence of wood ash as a source of supplemental calcium on groundnut (arachis hypogaea l.) yield and seed quality
(Sokoine University of Agriculture, 1999) Lugaila, Mariam Seif
Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) has a peculiar calcium (Ca) requirement particulary for its development during the initial peg^ng and seed development. For this purpose supplemental Ca is usually recommended when a crop is grown on acid soils with low cation exchange capacity (CEC). To evaluate the influence of supplemental Ca on yield and seed quality of selected groundnut cultivars two field experiments were conducted at Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro region during the months of February ■ May and April - August, 1998. The experiment was laid out as a split - plot in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Three groundnut cultivars Baka, ICGV 86112 and Spancross were the main plots, while calcium levels 0, 60,100,140 kg Ca/ha obtained from wood ash and one treatment of 140 kg Ca/ha from hydrated lime were the sub plots. Each subplot had eight rows, 2 m long with in - row spacing of 10 cm. The results show that there was significant (P < 0.05) cultivar effect on the number of filled pods per plant, seed size, seed yield per plant and seed diameter. Application of Ca had no significant effect on most of the variables analyzed. However, there was significant interaction (P < 0.05) between cultivar and Ca on seed yield per plant. The lack ofresponse to Ca observed in this study suggests that there was no difference in Ca uptake among cultivars used. Significant interaction between cultivar and Ca level on seed yield per plant in experiment 2 suggests that cultivars used respond differently to applied Ca with respect to this character. Soil analysis at the end of each experiment indicated that the applied Ca levels had an increasing effect on soil pH and exchangeable Ca suggesting that wood ash may be used for liming acid soils.