Article Main

A. R. Khan A. Rahman R. D. Singh

Abstract

Soil temperature is recognised as one of the most important factors in crop production. Some degree of manual control of soil temperature is possible through regulation of soil surface cover. The effect of eight mulch treatments ( rice husk, rice husk incorporated, paddy straw, saw dust, water mulch, transparent polyethylene, black polyethylene and bare) on the soil temperature during various growth phases of peanut crop (Arachis hypogaea L.) were investigated on a lateritic sandy loam soil (ultisols). These experiments were conducted for two consecutive seasons. Plastic mulches raised the temperature upto 5 0C generally during afternoon whereas vegetative mulches depressed the same. Between the plastic mulches, black polyethylene covered field recorded lower soil temperature (upto 20 C) than the transparent one. Water mulches due to their high specific heat capacity acted as a heat sink during the day and heat source at night. The vegetative mulches suppressed the soil temperature and did not allow the radiant energy to contact the soil directly and emitted back the energy to the atmosphere. Among the vegetative mulches, rice husk and saw dust proved better than paddy straw and rice husk incorporated. The type and amount of soil cover which modify micro-climate and soil edaphic environment, may help to plan the farming practice for better crop growth and production.

Article Details

Article Details

Keywords

Mulch, Peanut, Plastic mulch, Soil temperature, Vegetative mulch

References
Adams, J. E. (1965). Effect of mulch on soil temperature and grain sorghum development. Agron. J., 57: 471-474.
Aggarwal, P.K. (2008). Global Climate Change and Indian Agriculture: Impacts, adaptation and mitigation. Ind. J. of Agr. Sci., 78(10): 911 -19.
Bowers, S. A. (1968). Influence of water mulch on soil temperature and sweet corn and green bean production. Soil Sci., 105 : 335-345.
Burrows, W.C. and Larson, W. E. (1962). Effects of amount of mulch on soil temperature and early growth of corn. Agron. J., 54: 19-23.
Fairbourn, M. L. (1974). Effect of coal mulch on crop yields. Agron. J., 66: 785-789.
IPCC. (2007). Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change (2007). The Physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental panel on climate change [Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M.Tignor and H.L. Miller (Eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.
Khan, A. R., Mathur, B. K. and Datta, B. (1977). Fabrication and performance of thermocouple amplifier for soil temperature measurements. Research and Industry, 22 : 174 177.
Khan, A. R. and Datta, B. (1982). Scheduling of irrigation for summer peanuts. Peanut Science, 7 : 10 13.
Khan, A. R., Ghorai, A.K., Srivastava, R. C. and Singh, S. R. (1997). Development of eco-friendly and non-hazardous weed control technology for lowland rice by smothering through LDPE film. J. Agron. & Crop Sci. , 178 : 73 - 78.
Khan, A. R. (1998 a). Studies on the effects of water mulch on physical edaphic properties of soil in relation to peanut growth and yield. Agrochimica. 42 (3-4) : 126-134.
Khan, A. R. (1998 b). Mulch experiments with peanuts. International Centre for Theoretical Physics (UNESCO & IAEA). Int. Rep. IC/IR/98/2 : 1-9.
Khan, A. R., Srivastava, R.C., Ghorai, A. K. and Singh, S. R. (2003). Efficient soil solarization for weed control in rainfed upland rice ecosystem. International Agrophysics. 17 (3): 99-103.
Letey, J. and Stolzy, L.H. (1964). Measurement of Oxygen diffussion rates with the platinum micro-electrode. Hilgardia. 36 : 545-554.
Mohsin, M.A. and Khan, A.R. (1977). Fabrication and performance of oxygen diffusion meter using platinum microelectrode system. IL RISO. 26 : 99-111.
Nanda, P., Khan, A. R., Chandra, D. and Ghorai, A. K. (1999). Improved production technology of pointed gourd (Trichosanthes dioica L.). Thought. 3 (3) : 13-15.
Nanda, P., Khan, A. R., Ghorai, A. K. and Chandra, D. (2000). On farm evaluation of straw mulch on pointed gourd production. Indian Farming. 50 (7): 37 – 39.
Singh, S.S., Haidar, M.G., Khan, A.R., Sikka, A.K., Prasad, L.K., Gaunt, John. L. and Singh, J.P. (2007). Effect of nematode management on rice grain yield in nursery. . Afro- Asian Journal of Nematology, 17 (1): 13 -16.
Webster, G. R., Adamson, R. M., Crossley,J. H., Harris, J. H., Turley, R. H. and Wood, J. J. (1967). Saw dust for horticultural crops. Deptt. of Agril., Saanichton, Canada, B.C. Pub. No. 165. pp. 1-16.
Section
Research Articles

How to Cite

Influence of soil surface manipulation on soil temperature in relation to peanut production. (2013). Journal of Applied and Natural Science, 5(1), 53-57. https://doi.org/10.31018/jans.v5i1.281