Asian Journal of Research and Review in Agriculture

Growth performance of certain important underutilized legume crops like Bambara groundnut can be affected by varietal variations as well as nutrient supply rates. As result, there is a need for application of SSP to stimulate nodulation for optimum production since legumes require more phosphorus for nitrogen fixation and energy transformation to achieve maximum function. However, this information is still deficit in some parts of Nigeria as most farmers still grow Bambara-nut on poor soils without SSP, thus leading to poor performance of the crop. Therefore, the broad objective of the present study is to determine the real effect of varietal differences and SSP rates on the growth performance of Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea l. verd.) in Gombe State, Nigeria.

Field trials were conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Federal University of Kashere and at Tabra in the Sudan Savanna Agroecological Zone of Nigeria. The treatments consisted of two Bambara groundnut (white and red) varieties and five SSP rates (0, 20, 40, 60 and 80kg/ha). The treatments were factorially combined in a 2 x 5 and laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 3 replications. The plot size was 3 x 2m (6m²). Data collected on canopy height, number of leaves per plant, number of branches per plant, leaf area, number of days to 50% flowering, and number of nodules per plant, were subjected to Analysis of Variance, and mean separation done with LSD at 5% probability level. The result showed that at Kashere only, SSP Rate at 80kg/ha produced the significantly the highest value (6.63) over others, except SSP Rate at 60kg (6.08), whereas the control yielded the least number (4.10). Again, on days to 50% flowering, the red variety significantly (P<0.05) produced a higher values at both Tabra and Kashere with 45.40% and 45.38% respectively over the white variety. Meanwhile, at Keshere only, White variety significantly produced a higher value on canopy height (28.16cm) over red variety (27.14cm). But SSP rate at 80kg/ha recorded the highest means on plant height at Tabra (23.86cm) and Keshere (31.83cm). On the number of leaves per plant, only SSP rate at 80kg/ha produced the highest values (13.24leaves/plant) only at Keshere. In terms of Number of branches per plant, Red variety recorded a significantly higher value of (6.45) at Kashere only over white variety (4.77), and SSP rates did the same as 80kg/ha and 60kg/ha significantly (P<0.05) produced higher values (6.38/plant and 6.05/plant respectively) among others. Finally, variety and SSP rates interactions also showed significant differences on some parameters like plant height, number of branches, leaf area, days to 50% flowering, number of leaves/plant, canopy height etc. From the results, the white variety of Bambara Groundnut performed optimally better than the red variety in terms of growth parameters. Therefore, farmers in the study areas are recommended to adopt the White variety and 80 kg/ha of SSP rate for optimal growth of Bambara Groundnut.