Assessing the Water and Thermal Use Efficiencies of Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) Grown under Different Strength of Jute Agro Textile Mulch in India

Aims: To evaluate the effects of jute agrotextile mulches on yield and yield attributes, dry matter accumulation, water use efficiency as well as accumulated agrometeorological indices and thermal utilization of groundnut.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in the experimental farm of Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal, India during kharif season of 2017 and 2018.

Methodology: The experiment was carried in randomized block design with five treatments each of which was replicated four times Groundnut (variety J L-24) as a test crop. The treatments (T), composing different strength of jute agro textile (JAT) used as mulching material were as follows: T1: 1000 GSM JAT, T2: 800 GSM, T3: 600 GSM, T4: 400 GSM JAT and T5: farmer's practice (control) where GSM is gram per square meter. All the data regarding the yield, yield attributes, water use efficiency and thermal utilization of the crop were recorded accordingly.

Results: Response of pod yield over control were 24.26 q/ha, 26.44 q/ha, 20.98 q/ha and 18.25q/ha in T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 respectively. Though all the treatments showed increment over control, the highest result was found in T2 and a further increase in strength of JAT showed a decrement in all aspects. The water use efficiency, at an average, increased by 69.12% due to the various treatments over control. Heat unit and thermal units use efficiencies were also highest in treatment T2 which showed the most accurate utilization of thermal indices.

Conclusion: Therefore, among all the treatments T2 exhibited the most promising effect on improving yield and other attributes along with maintaining sustainability as it might have provided the most favourable soil condition compared to other mulches for groundnut.