Abstract

The production potential of groundnut can possibly be attained through application of adequate quantity of micronutrients which enhances translocation of photosynthates and protein synthesis overall favouring the Indian edible oil economy. A field experiment was conducted during 2019 at Annamalai University, Chidambaram, India to study the Influence of micronutrients on growth and yield of groundnut in coastal soils. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replications. The treatment schedule comprised of recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) @ 25:50:75 kg/ha of NPK, respectively + FeSO4 @ 15 kg/ha, RDF + ZnSO4 @ 8 kg/ha, RDF + Borax @ 4 kg/ha, RDF + FeSO4 @ 1.0% as foliar spray, RDF + ZnSO4 @ 0.5% as foliar spray, RDF + Borax @ 0.2% as foliar spray and control (RDF). The results indicated that the RDF + ZnSO4 @ 8 kg/ha treatment produced significantly higher plant attributes viz., plant height (62.18 cm), number of branches/plant (11.28), chlorophyll content (34.61 g/ l) and number of effective nodules/plant (45.17), yield attributes (100 kernel weight (35.51 g), shelling percentage (67.9 %), pod yield (2178 kg/ha), kernel yield (1479 kg/ha) and haulm yield (4081 kg/ha). Furthermore, this treatment had a positive result on growth, yield attributes and yield of groundnut. Therefore, application of RDF + ZnSO4 @ 8 kg/ha can be recommended for groundnut cultivation in coastal regions of India.