Sarhad J. Agric. Vol.27, No.4, 2011
INFLUENCE OF RHIZOBIUM INOCULATION ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF GROUNDNUT CULTIVARS MUHAMMAD SAJID*, ABDUR RAB*, FAZAL-I-WAHID*, SYED NOOR MUHAMMAD SHAH*, IBADULLAH JAN*, MUHAMMAD AJMAL KHAN*, SAID ASGHAR HUSSAIN**, MUHAMMAD ANWAR KHAN*** and ZAFAR IQBAL**** * ** *** ****
Department of Horticulture, Agricultural University, Peshawar – Pakistan. Agricultural Research Institute), Peshawar – Pakistan. Department of Plant Protection, Agricultural University, Peshawar – Pakistan. Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Agricultural University, Peshawar – Pakistan. E-Mail:
[email protected]
ABSTRACT To study the influence of rhizobium inoculation on growth and yield of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) cultivars, an experiment was conducted at Kurram Agency, Pakistan during 2007. The rhizobium inoculation significantly enhanced the growth and yield parameters of groundnut cultivars. However, the maximum plant height (88.43 cm), number of shoots (19.9 plant-1), number of leaves (173.27 plant-1), number of pods (79.8 plant-1), number of nodules (156.27 plant-1), yield (252.66 g plant-1) and production (1856 kg ha-1) was observed in synthetic rhizobium inoculated seeds. The Chakori cultivar of groundnut showed best result i.e. maximum plant height (80.43 cm), number of shoots (18.9 plant-1), number of leaves (196.1 plant-1), number of pods (85.3 plant-1), number of nodules (141.1 plant-1), yield (249.8g plant-1) and production (2206 kg ha-1). All the parameters of growth and yield showing best result for synthetic rhizobium inoculation of seeds, while among the cultivars Chakori is best for cultivation. Key Words: Rhizobium Inoculation, groundnut cultivars, growth and yield Citation: Sajid, M., A. Rab, F. Wahid, S.N.M. Shah, I. Jan, M. A. Khan, S.A. Hussain, M.A. Khan and Z. Iqbal. 2010. Influence of rhizobium inoculation on growth and yield of groundnut cultivars. Sarhad J. Agric. 27(4): 573-576 INTRODUCTION Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) belongs to the family Leguminosae. It originated in South America, probably in Brazil, and has been cultivated since ancient times by Native Americans. Plants grow about 75 cm (about 30 inches) tall and can spread 1.2m (4 ft). Some types develop a bunchy/erect growth, others, called runners, spread over the ground. In Pakistan, it is cultivated mainly in rain-fed (barani areas) of Punjab and also in irrigated areas of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh. Groundnuts require warm growing season of 120 to 140 days, moderate rainfall and pH 6.0 to 6.5 is more suitable for its cultivation. Groundnut seeds contain 40 to 50 percent oil and 20 to 30 percent protein, and they are an excellent source of B vitamins (Pardee, 2002). Groundnut is primarily grown for its high oil content, for making cooking oil, soaps, cosmetics and lubricants. Seedcake, after extraction of oil is feed to livestock because of its residual protein value and is also used as manure. The seed is used in bakery products. Oil emulsion is nutrient and used for softening pharmaceutical products. In leguminous crops like groundnut and soybean, a bacterium responsible for fixing nitrogen in the root zones/nodules provides a good amount of nitrogen to the soil, which is not only utilized by the existing crop but also by the next crop. It also improves the soil fertility, soil structure and texture. Hoque and Hashem (1991) conducted two field experiments with soybean and groundnut for selection of suitable Rhizobium strains for inoculum production. They obtained good results for various crop parameters such as nodule number; nodule weight and root dry matter etc. during vegetative growth of the crops and the yield at maturity. In case of groundnut, BAU 700 ranked top in its contribution on growth and yield of the crop. Voravit and Somabhi (1989) stated that Rhizobium inoculation was found to increase nodule number and nitrogen fixing activity of the crop. Apparently, fixation by Rhizobium existing in the soil alone provided additional nitrogen of 61.1 mg plant-1, but existing and inoculated Rhizobium together gave additional nitrogen of 124.7 mg plant-1.Being a leguminous plant, nitrogen is fixed by bacteria in root nodules of groundnut crop. Groundnut is therefore, given a proper place in the ‘crop rotation programmes’ to maintain soil fertility. Leaves of the plant are fed to cattle. This experiment has been conducted to inoculate the groundnut seed with synthetic Rhizobium bacteria for yield improvement. MATERIALS AND METHODS An experiment on “influence of rhizobium inoculation on the growth and yield of groundnut under the agro-climatic conditions of Kurram Agency” was conducted with five different farmers at Upper Kurram Agency during 2007. Three different cultivars of groundnut i-e KS-1, BARD-1 and Chakori were used in this experiment to evaluate their growth and yield parameters. Six numbers of subplots were prepared on each
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location, covering 2023.5 m2 lands, represented one replication. Four more replications were prepared in a similar manner at different locations of Upper and Lower Kurram Agency. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with two factors i.e. Rhizobium and cultivars. Synthetic inoculums of rhizobia were collected from the Directorate of Soil and Plant Nutrition, Agriculture Research Institute, Tarnab-Peshawar. After field preparation, half of the groundnut seed was inoculated with synthetic inoculums during sowing and the other half was left un-inoculated as control. The seeds were sown during the month of June, 2007, at 45 cm row to row and 25 cm plant to plant distances on each location. Cultural practices like irrigation, hoeing, weeding and pesticide application were uniformly carried out. Data were recorded continuously on their growth and after harvest, during the month of September-October, 2007. The studied parameters were, number of leaves plant -1, number of shoots plant-1, plant height (cm), number of nodules plant1 , number of pods plant-1, yield plant-1 (gm) and total yield (kg ha-1). Statistical Analysis For statistical analysis, F-test was use by using LSD test (Steel and Torie, 1980). Data was analyzed by using STATISTIX programme and the means were separated by LSD test at 0.05 probability level. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Rhizobium inoculation had a pronounced effect on the growth and yield of groundnut. The results obtained are discussed briefly as under. Number of Leaves Plant-1 Rhizobium inoculation had significant effect on number of leaves (Table I). More leaves (173.27) were found in the plants, which were inoculated with Rhizobia, while less leaves (128.27) were produced by the plants, which were grown in the control/un-inoculated condition. Maximum leaves in inoculated plants may be attributed to the symbiotic relationship of rhizobium (bacteria) with the roots of leguminous crops, which fix the atmospheric nitrogen into the roots of groundnut and thus the number of leaves plant-1 was increased. Among the cultivars, the significant difference in mean values indicates that the three cultivars behaved differently, however maximum leaves (196.10) were produced by cv. Chakori and minimum leaves (108.90) were given by cv. KS-1. More leaves in cv. Chakori may be due its genetic potential, which enable the plants to fix and utilize the atmospheric Nitrogen more efficiently for the preparation of food, which results in more leaves per plant. Tables I
Treatments
Growth and yield characteristics as affected by rhizobium inoculation
Cultivars
KS-1 BARD-1 Chakori LSD Inoculation Inoculated Un-inoculated LSD Interaction Sig.
Plant height (cm)
No. of Shoots Plant-1
No. of LeavesPlant-1
64.04 b 71.71 ab 80.43 a 12.25
11.30 c 14.40 b 18.90 a 2.171
88.00 a 56.13 b 29.53 NS
16.07 a 13.67 b 5.235 NS
Parameters No. of Pods Plant-1
No. of Nodules Plant-1
Yield (g plant-1)
Yield (kg ha-1)
108.90 c 147.30 b 196.10 a 27.99
51.90 b 67.10 b 85.30 a 18.13
109.40 b 113.30 b 141.10 a 20.99
213.28 b 216.92 b 249.77 a 29.77
1248.05 b 1417.90 b 2206.31 a 327.2
173.27 a 128.27 b 67.49 NS
79.80 a 56.40 b 43.73 NS
156.27 a 86.27 b 50.60 NS
252.66 a 200.65 b 71.79 NS
1855.90 a 1392.30 b 788.9 *
* = Significant NS = Non Significant Plant Height The means of statistical analysis indicates that plant height was significantly affected by treatments Table I. Maximum plant height (88.00cm) was observed in the inoculated plants, while less plant height (56.13cm) was recorded for uninoculated plants. The reason for this might be the adequate amount of nitrogen, fixed by the Rhizobia. More number of leaves per plant may also be positively contributed to more plant height in the inoculated plants. The mean values for cultivars also show significant effect for plant height. Maximum plant height (80.43 cm) was achieved by cv. Chakori, while minimum plant height (64.04 cm) was observed in cv. KS-1. Comparing means for cultivars for plant height, it is evident that variation observed in plant height was probably due to the difference in the degree of adaptation to the environment of experimental site. Rhizobium inoculation treatments also gave superior results to the un-inoculated ones in plant height; stem dry weight, number of nodules/plant and nodule dry weight. Number of Shoots Plant-1 The number of shoots plant-1 was significantly affected by various treatments (Table I). While the maximum shoots (16.07) were given by groundnut plants, which were inoculated with synthetic Rhizobia, while
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minimum shoots (13.67) per plant were there in the plants, produced in control condition. Maximum number of shoots per plant in inoculated plants may be due to the fixation of atmospheric Nitrogen by the bacteria. It may also be attributed to the maximum number of leaves in inoculated plants, which promoted photosynthesis and encouraged the plants to produce more shoots. The data recorded for cultivars show that maximum shoots (18.90) were produced by cv. Chakori, followed by cv. BARD-1 (14.40), while less shoots per plant (11.30) were produced by cv. KS-1. This fact may be attributed to the genetic potential of these cultivars. These results are in line with the findings of Brooks et al., (1988), who inoculated seedlings of two groundnut cultivars i-e Ada and Kara, with culture suspensions of one of the 6 elite (NifTAL) or 13 West African wild strains of rhizobia. All the NifTAL strains except TAL651, significantly increased shoot weight and/or increased total nitrogen. The variety Ada responded positively to inoculation with TMUN, TBAM and TAL1380 etc. Number of Nodules Plant-1 The Rhizobium inoculation had showed significant effect on number of nodules per plant (Table I). Maximum nodules per plant (156.27) were produced in the inoculated plants, while less nodules per plant (86.27) were produced by uninoculated plants. The reason might be due to the synthetic inoculation of Rhizobia, which increased the number of bacteria and hence more nodules plant-1 were produced. Among the three cultivars, maximum nodules plant-1 (141.10) were produced by cv. Chakori, while the rest of the two cultivars, BARD-1 and KS-1, behaved almost alike producing (113.30) and (109.40) nodules plant-1 respectively. The results are in agreement with the findings of Thongchai Mala (1988), who tested four Rhizobium strains with five groundnut cultivars. After 40-60 days, the results indicated that, for five cultivars, Rhizobium strain NC-92 had the highest tendency to increase nodule number. The nodule numbers of Tainung 2, Lampang, RCM 387, Moket and KAC 320 were 108.00, 102.35, 98.25, 94.63, 92.70 nodules/plant respectively. He also concluded that every cultivar had a tendency to have higher pod number when associated with NC-92. Number of Pods Plant-1 The treatments had significant effect on number of pods plant-1 (Table I). However the maximum number of pods plant-1 (79.80) was produced by inoculated plants, minimum pods (56.40) was produced by uninoculated plants. Maximum pods plant-1 in the inoculated plants may be due to the increased number of bacteria due to synthetic inoculation. It might also be due to more leaves and shoots plant-1 which enable the plant to produce and sink more photosynthates/carbohydrates to the lower parts and thus more pods plant-1 were produced. Among the cultivars, maximum pods plant-1 (85.30) were produced by cv. Chakori, while less pods plant-1 (51.90) were produced by cv. KS-1. This may be due to the genetic potential of these cultivars. Yield Plant-1 The treatments had a pronounced effect on yield plant-1 (Table I). More yield plant-1 (252.66 g) was obtained by the plants which were inoculated during the experiment, while less yield plant-1 (200.65 g) was given by un-inoculated plants. Maximum yield in inoculated plants may be attributed to the symbiotic relationship of rhizobium (bacteria) with the roots of leguminous crops, which fix the atmospheric nitrogen into the roots of groundnut and thus the yield was increased. Among the cultivars, the significant difference in mean values indicates that the three cultivars behaved differently, however maximum yield plant-1 (249.77 g) was recorded for cv. Chakori and less yield plant-1 (213.28 g) was observed for cv. KS-1, which might be due to the genetic potential of these cultivars. The results are in association with the findings of Dadson et al., (1988), who studied the symbiotic effectiveness of elite and wild strains of rhizobia with bambara groundnut. The parameters, nodulation, shoot dry weight and seed yield were observed during the trial on cultivars Ada (a small-seeded variety) and Kara (a large seeded variety). Un-inoculated seeds or seeds supplied with 50 kg Nha-1 were used as controls. Results showed that inoculation with rhizobia significantly increased nodule numbers, nodule dry weight, shoot dry weight and seed yield of the Kara variety of bambara groundnut (Ahmad, et al., 2001). The results coincide with the findings of Praprut (1999), he concluded that the treatments with Rhizobium inoculation gave higher dry pod yield than those without inoculation which were 324 and 214 kg/rai, respectively. Total Yield The synthetic inoculation of Rhizobia significantly affected the production hectare-1 (Table I). Maximum production (1855.90 kg hectare-1) was given by the plants, which were inoculated, while minimum production (1392.30 kg hectare-1) was there in the un-inoculated plants. Maximum production in inoculated plants may be attributed to the symbiotic relationship of rhizobium (bacteria) with the roots of leguminous crops, which fix the atmospheric nitrogen into the roots of groundnut and thus the production hectare-1 was increased (Ahmad, et al., 2009). It may also be due to more leaves and plant height, as according to the source sink relationship, more carbohydrates were produced due to more number of leaves, sank into the root zone and
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hence more production. Among the cultivars, the significant effect indicates that the cultivars behaved differently, however maximum production (2206.31 kg hectare-1) was recorded for cv. Chakori and less production (1248.05 kg hectare-1) was observed for cv. KS-1, which might be due to the genetic potential of these cultivars. Significant interaction was observed between the treatments and cultivars indicating that the response of cultivars was different in inoculated and un-inoculated treatments. Maximum production (2206.31 kg hectare-1) was given by the inoculated plants of cv. Chakori and less production was given by the uninoculated plants of cv. KS-1 (1248.05 kg hectare-1). CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS This study shows that there was a significant effect of synthetic inoculation of Rhizobium on the yield and other growth parameters of groundnut. From present study it has been concluded that the inoculation of Rhizobium to groundnut has significantly increased plant height, yield and yielding components. REFERENCES Ahmad, S., G. Habib, Y. Muhammad, I. Ullah, Z. Durrani, U. Pervaiz and A. Rahaman. 2009. Effect of seed scarification, rhizobium inoculation and phosphorus fertilization on root development of barseem and soil composition. Sarhad J. Agric. 25 (3): 369-374. Ahmad, S., G. Habib, M.M. Siddiqui and M.A. Khan. 2001. Effect of seed scarification, rhizobium inoculation and phosphorus fertilization on yield and nutritive value of berseem. Sarhad J. Agric. 17(2):127-131. Brooks, C.B., R.B. Dadson and B.M. Green.1988. Evaluation of symbiotic effectiveness of elite and wild strains of Bradyrhizobium on cultivars of s (L). Agric. Deptt., USA. 65(1): 61-63 Dadson, R.B., C.B. Brooks and J.G. Wutoh. 1988. Evaluation of selected rhizobial strains grown in association with bambara groundnut (Voandzeia subterranea (L). Sch. Agric. Sci. Deptt. Agric. USA. 65: 254-256. Hoque, M.S. and M.A. Hashem. 1991. Performance of some promising strains of soybean and groundnut under field conditions. Bangladesh Agric. Univ. Res. Program.. pp. 98-104. Pardee, W.D. 2002. Groundnut. Encarta Encyclopedia. Microsoft Corp. USA. Praprut, P. 1999. Effects of rhizobium inoculation and nitrogen fertilizer rates on growth and yield of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L) var. Khon Kaen 60-3. Res. Dev. Instt. Khon Kaen (Thailand). pp. 173-182. Steel, R.G.D. and J.H. Torrie. 1980. Analysis of covariance, In: Principles and Procedures of Statistics: A Biometrical Approach. pp.. 401-437. McGraw-Hill, New York. Thongchai, M. 1988. Response of groundnut to different Rhizobium strains. Thai. J. Soils & Fert. 10: 261-271. Voravit, R. and M. Somabhi. 1989. Study on nitrogen fixation by rhizobium in groundnut. Thai J. Soils & Fert. 10: 368-379.
