Effects of Ground and Unground Rice Straw on the Yield and Proximate Composition of Groundnut (<i>Arachis hypogeae</i> L.)

A field experiment was carried out to evaluate the influence of ground and unground rice straw application as organic manure on the yield and proximate composition of groundnut seeds, at the University of Ilorin teaching and research farm. The field layout was a split plot Complete Randomized Block Design with four replications. The ground and unground rice straw were in the main plot and different application rates of the rice straw (0; 1,250; 2,500; 3,750 and 5,000 kg /ha) were in the subplots. The results revealed that ground and unground rice straws at 1,250 and 2,500 kg/ha application rates significantly increased (p < 0.05) yield attributes such as pods’ number with a range of 48.33-74.33 pod weight (23.95-42.70), number of seeds (45.67-77.33), seeds’ weight (13.55-25.56 g) and hundred seed weight (34.34-38.05 g) as well as some aspect of proximate composition such as ash content, crude protein and crude fats which ranged between 2.71-2.79%, 31.47-31.56% and 46.61-47.13% respectively, in order of their mention. The forgoing study revealed that ground and unground rice straw applied at the rate of 1,250 and 2,500 kg/ha can serve as an alternative for soil nutrient amendment in groundnut as it ensured a reasonable yield that is able to meet the nutritional needs of man and livestock.