Effect of Season, Variety and Phosphorus Fertilization on the Growth and 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 effect of variety and phosphorus fertilization on the growth and yield of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.). The treatment consisted of two groundnut varieties (Samnut 24 and Samnut 25), 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 were collected on the plant height, number of leaves, 100-grain weight and grain yield. All data collected were subjected Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and DMRT was adopted in separating the means. The result of the experiment showed that, there is a significant difference (P = 0.05) in both seasons on all the parameters observed. The results further indicated that, application of 25 kg P/ha produced statistically (P = 0.05) similar result with 50 kg P/ha, however the two treatments were better than the control. On varieties, Samnut 25 proved to be significantly (P = 0.05) better than Samnut 24 on most of the parameters observed. Based on the result of these findings, application of 25 kg P/ha to Samnut 25 can be adopted by farmers for profitable groundnut production in the study area.