<div>Background: Groundnut is one of the most important oilseed crops of India. Improving productivity of groundnut to meet the domestic vegetable oil demand through balanced fertilization is the prime challenge lying before the agronomists in the country. With the aim of evaluating phosphogypsum as a source of sulphur nutrition in groundnut, a field experiment entitled &ldquo;Response of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) to different levels and time of phosphogypsum nutrition&rdquo; was conducted at Agronomy field unit, University of Agricultural Sciences Bangalore, during kharif-2019. 
 
Methods: Experiment was laid out in randomised complete block design (RCBD) with eleven treatments, of which eight have different combinations of phosphogypsum applied as basal and in split (30 DAS) and one with gypsum as basal alone. Whereas, the remaining two treatments, without any additional source of sulphur are included for comparison. 
 
Result: Among eleven treatments, application of phosphogypsum @ 125 kg S eq ha-1 in split recorded highest yield attributes, pod yield (2063 kg ha-1), kernel yield (1418 kg ha-1) and sulphur uptake (11.33 kg ha-1). Which were on par with 100 kg S eq ha-1 in split (2014, 1380 and 10.39 kg ha-1, respectively). All other treatments recorded lower values with lowest in treatments without any additional sulphur source.</div>

Response of Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) to Different Levels and Time of Phosphogypsum Nutrition

Sulphur is the fourth most important nutrient after nitrogen, phosphorus and zinc for Indian Agriculture. Large quantities of indigenous S sources such as mined gypsum, pyrite and by-product phosphogypsum are available in the country. Research efforts have been directed to evaluate suitability of these indigenous S sources as sulphur fertilizer in soils and crops of eastern India. The magnitude of S deficiency widely differed in soils of eastern states. Among different crops oilseeds were found more responsive to S application than pulses and cereals. The dose of most of the crops ranged between 20 to 60 kg ha-1 except sugarcane which profitably responded at 80 kg ha-1. Basal soil application of gypsum and phosphogypsum were found to be superior than that of pyrites. However, pyrites resulted in higher crop response on residual sulphur in various cropping systems. In addition to yield, application of S improved the quality of crop produce also. Protein content in cereals and pulses, oil content in oil seeds and sugar content in sugarcane were appreciably increased due to S application. Replenishment of sulphur in soil can be made through the use of indigenous sources of sulphur for achieving higher crops yield and quality in eastern states of India.

Response of Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) to Different Levels and Time of Phosphogypsum Nutrition

Use of indigenous sources of sulphur in soils of eastern India for higher crops yield and quality- A review