Influence of Season, Variety and Phosphorus Fertilization on Herbage Yield of Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) in Bauchi State Nigeria

An experiment was conducted at teaching and research farm of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi, during the dry and rainy seasons of 2016 to evaluate the influence of variety and phosphorus fertilization on herbage yield of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.). The treatment consisted of two groundnut varieties (Samnut 24 and Samnut 25) and two levels of phosphorus fertilizer (25kg and 50kg/ha and a control) factorially combined to give six treatment combinations. These treatments were laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications. Data was collected on number of branches, 100 pod weight, Harvest index, biomass yield and stover yield. All data collected were subjected Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and DMRT was adopted in separating the means. The result of the experiment revealed a significant (P = 0.05) difference in both seasons on all the parameters observed. The results further revealed that, application of 25 and 50 kgP/ha gave statistically (P = 0.05) similarly result but all the treatments were better than the control. Variety on the other hand, samnut 25 gave significantly (P = 0.05) higher herbage yield than samnut 24. Based on the result of this findings, application of 25 kg P/ha to Samnut 25 should be adopted by farmers for groundnut herbage production in the study area.