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Lime-induced iron chlorosis is a potential problem on most calcareous soils particularly in arid and semi-arid climates affecting most of the plants grown on them. Iron inactivation in plant tissue and organic anions held are responsible as the mechanism leading to the disorder which is still not fully understood, and there is a lack of agreement as to the primary factor responsible for lime-induced chlorosis. The combined application of sodium nitroprusside which is a source of nitric oxide and iron sulphate reduced the incidence of lime induced iron chlorosis compared to control by promoting higher Fe uptake, translocation and activation;and increased physiological parameters such as photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate and dry matter. Among genotypes GPBD-6 had higher photosynthetic rate and dry matter. These results clearly indicate that both the application of sodium nitroprusside and iron sulphate was effective in alleviating iron chlorosis in groundnut genotypes grown on calcareous soil.

Key words: Chlorosis, Iron deficiency, Photosynthesis, Dry matter