Groundnut varietal response to spacing in the Guinea Savannah and Forest Zones of Ghana
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Date
2010-08-10
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Abstract
Field experiments were conducted at the KNUST Agricultural Research Station and Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) in 2006 and 2007 major seasons to assess the influence spacing on different groundnut varieties. The design was a factorial experiment laid out in randomized complete blocks with three replications. Two factors were tested; variety (6) and spacing (3).
Nkosuor and Kpanieli recorded high pod yields at KNUST, significantly improving pod yield by 18.18 and 15.63% over their respective treatment means in 2006 and 2007. Spacing1 and Spacing2 significantly increased pod yields by 36.85 and 6.99%, over their respective treatment means in 2006 and 2007. At Nyankpala, Adepa and Manipintar significantly increased pod yield by 9.19% and 40.25% over the mean of treatments, respectively in 2006 and 2007. SP1 improved pod yield in 2007 by 16.08% over the mean of treatments.
Jenkaar increased stover N by 4.08% whilst SP1 increased the stover N by 4.41 and 7.38% over treatment mean in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Jenkaar and Nkosuor recorded large stover N at Nyankpala, significantly increasing stover N by 40.83 and 31.86% over mean of treatments in 2006 and 2007, respectively. SP2 significantly increased stover N at over mean of treatments at Nyankpala by 24.76 and 4.66%, respectively in 2006 and 2007.
In 2006, Azivivi increased mean 100 seed weight over the mean of treatments by 19.03% at KNUST, whilst Manipintar improved mean 100 seed weight by 12.7% over treatments mean in 2007. SP3 increased mean 100 seed weight by 4.24 and 8.32% over mean of treatments in 2006 and 2007 respectively. At Nyankpala, Adepa and Kpanieli significantly increased 100 seed weight by 0.54 and 9.98% over their respective treatment means in 2006 and 2007 respectively.
Although all treatments recorded benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of over 1.00 at KNUST, Nkosuor and Kpanieli had the highest BCR (4.48 and 7.49, respectively) in 2006 and 2007. SP1 recorded the highest benefit-cost ratio 2006 (5.13) and 2007 (6.79). At Nyankpala, Adepa and Manipintar recorded the highest benefit-cost ratios (8.76 and 4.90, respectively) in 2006 and 2007. SP1 again recorded the highest benefits-cost ratios (8.51 and 3.89, respectively) in 2006 and 2007. The economics of production among the different spacing were in decreasing order of spacing1>spacing2>spacing3.
Based on the results, the recommended groundnut variety for the Humid Forest was Nkosuor. For the Guinea Savannah, the recommended groundnut variety was Adepa. SP1 was however the recommended spacing for both the Humid Forest and Guinea Savanna agro-ecologies.
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A thesis submitted to the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Renewable Natural Resources, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Agronomy.