The response of peanuts to phosphate fertilizers at Katherine, N.T

Abstract

A four-year experiment on the response of successive crops of peanuts to rates of superphosphate and rock phosphate as initial broadcast applications on virgin land and to rates of annual banded superphosphate was carried out at Katherine, N.T., between 1960 and 1964. By the third year of cropping, with no annual superphosphate, the yield from 4 cwt an acre Nauru or Christmas Island rock phosphate applied initially was slightly greater than that from 4 cwt an acre superphosphate and substantially greater than that from 2 cwt an acre superphosphate. Nauru and Christmas Island rock phosphate were of approximately equal effectiveness. No significant responses were obtained to gypsum in the presence of Christmas Island rock phosphate. Peanuts responded to annual banded applications of superphosphate up to 1 cwt an acre in spite of heavy initial broadcast applications of phosphate. The banded superphosphate was of particular benefit in the establishment and early growth of the crop.