Performance of Groundnut Varieties in Kallakurichi District through Farmer Participatory Mode

Field demonstrations were conducted in farmers field of Kallakurichi district during rabi 2020-21 to assess the growth, yield performance and economics of new groundnut varieties under irrigated condition. Three improved groundnut varieties viz. TMV14, Dharani (TCGS-1043) and CO 7, and check variety TMV 7 was taken for study. Critical inputs such as Groundnut seed (40 kg farmer-1), seed treatment chemicals, groundnut rich @ 5 kg ha-1 and bio inputs were distributed to identified farmers (50 nos) by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kallakurichi through ICAR Cluster Front line Demonstration (CFLD) programme. The study revealed that Dharani variety recorded higher number of pods (36/plant), pod yield (2530 kg/ ha), Haulm yield (3890 kg/ ha), higher gross returns of Rs 139150 ha-1 and net return of Rs 84900 ha-1 with higher benefit ratio of 3.0 followed by CO7 variety with pod yield of 2380 kg/ ha and B:C ratio of 2.84 when compared to TMV 7 and local check. The impact of FLD was also analyzed which showed that there was significant improvement in adoption of new variety, improved technologies, knowledge level and satisfaction on the part of farmers. It concluded that, groundnut varieties Dharani and CO 7 are suitable for cultivation in rabi/summer (January-April) season of Kallakurichi district.