Growth, Yield, Nodulation and Amino Acid Content of Bambara Groundnut (Vigna subterranea) under Inorganic and Organic Fertilizer Application

Abstract

Background: Bambara groundnut is an edible legume which is highly nutritious. This study was carried out to find the effect of inorganic and organic fertilizer on the growth, nodulation, nitrogen yield and nutritional composition of bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea). Methods: During the period of 2018, a glasshouse experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) at Ladang 15, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Different rates of compost, biofertilizer, gypsum were used along with the combination of different rates of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilizer. The amino acid content of the seed was measured by HPLC.Result: N and P fertilizer were found to play a dominating role in increasing the vegetative growth and yield of the plant. Plant height (21.73 cm), leaf area (2802.9 cm2) and the number of the pods per plant (41.75) increased with the application of N and P. Application of N30P60 kg/ha influenced nodule number (35.50) of the plant. Lysine content in seed was 6.03 mg/kg at T1 (N30P60 kg/ha) whereas 5.13 mg/kg was recorded at T7 (compost 10 t/ha). The application of N30P60 kg/ha has increased the growth, yield, nodulation and amino acid content of bambara groundnut.