Field experiment was conducted during Rabi/Summer season of 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12, at Coconut Research Station, Aliyarnagar, Tamil Nadu, India, to evaluate the best suited advanced varietal entries for improving pod yield in Pollachi tract of Tamil Nadu. Three factors mainly, Varieties (3), Fertilizer levels (3 viz., 125 %, 100 % and 75 % of Recommended Dose of Fertilizers, 25:50:75 kg ha-1 of NPK) and Spacing (two levels, 30 x 10 cm and 30 x 15 cm) in Factorial Randomized Block Design (FRBD) with three replications. Results of three years of experimentation with AVT entries J 71 (first year), ICGV 95386 (second year), Dh 216 (third year) are as follows, during first year pod yield recorded with VRI-2 (1751 kg ha-1) and J-71 (1877 kg ha-1) were on par with each other followed by ALR-3 (1505 kg ha-1). Among different fertilizer levels application of 125 % (1878 kg ha-1) and 100 % (1831 kg ha-1) RDF recorded highest pod yield followed by 75 % of RDF (1425 kg ha-1). Experimental results of second year revealed that pod yield recorded with medium bold culture ICGV 95386 (3820 kg ha-1) was 57.9 and 75.8 per cent higher over TMV 13 (2420 kg ha-1) and VRI-6 (2173 kg ha-1), respectively. Application of 125 % RDF (3187 kg ha-1) produced 20.9 and 40.7 per cent higher pod yield over RDF 75 % (2034 kg ha-1) and 100 % (2460 kg ha-1) and was comparable with each other. Spacing of 30 x 10 cm recorded higher pod yield of 3015 kg ha-1 over spacing of 30 x 15 cm (2592 kg ha-1). During third year experimentation AVT entry Dh 216 recorded higher pod and kernel yield (3216 kg ha-1, 2189 kg ha-1 respectively) as compared to VRI 6 (2861 kg ha-1, 1757 kg ha-1respectively) and TMV 13 (2759 kg ha-1, 1982 kg ha-1, respectively). Spacing of 30 x 15 cm recorded significantly higher pod and kernel yield (3221 kg ha-1 and 2098 kg ha-1) as compared to 30 x 10 cm spacing (2670 kg ha-1 and 1725 kg ha-1) and application of 75, 100 and 125 % of RDF recorded no significant difference among treatments. Among three AVT entries J-71, ICGV 95386 and Dh 216, J-71 experimented agronomically for higher yield, J-71was on par with VRI -2, Medium bold ICGV 95386 and Dh 216 recorded significantly higher yield than the other two high yielding groundnut varieties and were promising for promotion as a high yielding variety.

Download this article as