Nutrient uptake as influenced by live mulching and nitrogen management practices in maize-groundnut sequence

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out during two consecutive kharif and rabi seasons of 2015 and 2016 on sandy loam soils of dryland farm of S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. The experiment was laid out in a split plot design with three replications to study the direct and residual effect of live mulching and nitrogen management practices on nutrient uptake. The treatment with no mulching i.e. sole maize and treatment live mulching with sunhemp recorded higher total N uptake, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), higher total P and K uptake at harvest in maize during 2015 and 2016, respectively. Among the nitrogen management practices, substitution of 25 per cent of RDN through either poultry manure (PM) or FYM along with 75 per cent RDN through urea recorded higher total N uptake, NUE, total P and K uptake by maize at harvest than control. Residual effect of live mulching of sesbania and substitution of 25 per cent of RDN through either PM or FYM showed higher total N, P and K uptake by groundnut, respectively.