Abstract

We studied effect of 6 rates of ground oyster shell (GOS) on the growth characteristics of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) in 2007 cropping season. It was a greenhouse experiment arranged in a completely randomized design (CRD) with 6 rates of 0, 250, 500, 750, 1000 and 1250 g/5 kg soil and replicated 4 times. Soil samples were subjected to routine laboratory analyses while growth measurements were also made on root and shoot parts of the test crop. Soil and crop data were analyzed statistically using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression analysis. Rates of GOS had significant (p = 0.05) effect of root length and root numbers at 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, 56 and 63 days after planting (DAP). There were significant (p = 0.05) effects of GOS on some soil properties at post harvest stage of this study. There was significant (p = 0.05) positive correlation between GOS and Ca content while it related negatively with total exchangeable acidity (r = 0.95; p = 0.05).

Key words: Amendment, Arachis hypogaea, degradation, growth, tropical soils.