Growth and herbage yield of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) cultivars as influenced by cow dung levels in semi-arid zone of Nigeria

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during 2007 and 2008 rainy seasons at the Dry Land Teaching and Research Farm of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, to study the growth and herbage yield of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) cultivars as influenced by cow dung levels. Treatments consisted of factorial combination of two groundnut varieties (Ex-Dakar and RMP-12) and three cow dung levels (0, 15 and 30 t ha^-1), laid out in a randomized complete block design replicated three times. Results revealed that canopy height was higher in Ex-Dakar, whereas, canopy spread and leaf number was higher in RMP-12. Applications of 15 t ha^-1 and 30 t ha^-1 cow dung recorded similar performance in most of the parameters observed, except herbage yield where application of 30 t ha^-1 cow dung recorded the highest. Thus, it can be concluded that both Ex-Dakar and RMP-12 varieties could be planted for herbage yield of groundnut more so when combined with the application of cow dung at the rate of 30 t ha^-1.