1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
Pulses are annual leguminous crops yielding grains or seeds used for food, feed and sowing purposes. Pulses are crops yielding from one to twelve seeds of variable size, shape, and colour within a pod. In addition to their values as food and feed stuffs, pulses are also important in cropping systems for their ability to produce nitrogen and thus increase the fertility of the soil (FAO, 2011). Included in the pulses are groundnut and cowpea.Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) also known as peanut,is a member of the family papilionaceae, the largest and most important of the three divisions of leguminasae (Alonge and Adegbulugbe, 2005).The groundnut seed composed of approximately equal weight of fatty and none fatty oil; the relative amount of each depends upon its variety and maturity (Young, and Ahmed, 1982).
It is one of the world”Ÿs most popular crops cultivated throughout the tropical and sub-tropical areas where annual precipitation is between 1000 — 1200mm for optimum growth of the crop.Groundnut is the 13th most important food crop of the world (John, 2010). It is the world”Ÿs 4th most important source of edible oil and 3rdmost important source of vegetable protein (Taru et al., 2008). The crop is native to South America, Mexico, and Central America. It was first cultivated in a valley in Peru. The leading world producers of the crop are China, India, Nigeria, USA, and Senegal. Nigeria ranks third among the major producers (Abubakar and Abdulkadir, 2012). In Nigeria,agriculture was the dominant sector of the economy before independence;with groundnut cultivation as one of the vital areas of its economic built up (Ani et al, 2013).
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