Impact on Yield Attributes and Yields of Groundnut Varieties under Different Sowing Windows in Western Maharashtra, India

Present experiment was undertaken to study the “Impact of yield attributes and yields of groundnut varieties under different sowing windows in Western Maharashtra Plain Zone” at Department of Agricultural Meteorology Farm, Centre of Advanced Faculty Training (CAFT) in Agricultural Meteorology, College of Agriculture, Pune, Maharashtra State (India). The experiment was laid out in split plot design comprised of four varieties viz., V1: JL-501, V2: RHRG-6083 (Phule Unnati), V3: TAG-24 and V4: JL-776 (Phule Bharati) as main plot and four sowing windows viz., S1: 25rd MW (18th to 24th June), S2: 26th MW (25th June to 01st July), S­3: 27th MW (2nd to 8th July) and S4: 28th MW (09th to 15th July) as sub plot treatments. The number of pods plant-1, weight of pods plant-1, 100 kernel weight (g), shelling (%) and yields as influenced by the different treatments were recorded at harvest. Yield contributing characters viz., number of pods-1 (45.25 and 43.29) and weight of pods-1 (12.99 and 13.82) were found significantly higher in variety JL-776 over RHRG-6083, JL-501 and TAG-24, whereas shelling percentage (75.12 and 76.60) were found significantly higher in variety TAG-24 followed by JL-501, JL-776 and RHRG-6083. Pod yield (26.59 and 28.14 q ha-1) and haulm yield (39.61 and 36.7 q ha-1) were significantly higher in JL-776 followed by RHRG-6083, JL-501 and TAG-24. Amongst all the groundnut varieties, JL-776 (Phule Bharati) is significantly superior under extended sowing windows followed by varieties RHRG-6083, TAG-24 and JL-501. Sowing during 26th MW was observed to be most suitable and optimum for groundnut considering the growth and yield attributes. This sowing window was at par with 27th MW sowing window.