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 Potassium Nutrition

• Though potassium application is not regularly practiced, it plays equally important role as nitrogen and phosphorus in plants for their growth and development.

 

• Potassium is involved in providing resistance to insect pests, diseases, and water stress.

• It helps the plants in using the water economically.

• Potassium also helps in improving the quality of the crop produce.

• Potassium is to a plant what breaks are to a car.

• Good brakes are a must for safe journey to reach the destination and so is potassium for good quality crop produce.

• Usually it is considered that most of the Indian soils are rich in potassium.

• Is this true in case of the soil in your field?      

• It is necessary to make sure that the soil will meet the potassium needs of the groundnut crop in your field through soil testing.  

• If the soil test reveals that the available potassium is less than 150 kg of K2O/ha, then there is a need to apply potassium in that field.  

• Normally, about 30 to 50 kg K2O/ha will be adequate for groundnut crop sown in soils deficient in potassium.    

• If required, apply potassium as potassium sulfate to provide sulfur (18%) in addition to potassium (50%).   

• Potassium fertilizers are usually applied in one dose at the time of sowing as a basal-dressing.    

• In light soils, to minimize the loss of potassium due to leaching under heavy rainfall conditions, it is recommended to apply potassium in two splits doses. In such cases, the top dressing is to be done 30 to 40 days of sowing.  

 

• Potassium fertilizers are placed along with nitrogen and phosphorus either in the seed furrows or side dressed before sowing.  

• Potassium is top dressed along with nitrogen application, if any. The fertilizers are applied near the rows of the groundnut plants and incorporated either by intercultivation or by manual weeding.

• There should be sufficient moisture in the soil at the time of this top dressing of fertilizers.

• If groundnut is grown under irrigation, then a light irrigation is given immediately after the top dressing.