The effects of plant density on growth and yield of groundnuts

Groundnut (Arachis hypogea) is one of the grain legumes that is widely grown by smallholder farmers in Malawi. The yield and quality of groundnut is affected by a number of factors such as plant density. A study was conducted at Exagris Africa farm in Salima district of Malawi in the 2015/2016 growing season to evaluate the effect of plant density on the growth and yield of groundnut. Groundnut was planted at three densities: 89000, 178000 and 285000 plants per hectare. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with four replicates. The results show that plant density has no effect on stem diameter and leaf length of groundnut. However, the number of leaves per plant was higher at low plant density. Also, plants with a density of 285000 plants/ha grew taller and gave higher pod yield than lower density (89000 and 178000 plants ha-1) treatments.