Canopy Development, Yield, and Market Quality in Peanut as Affected by Genotype and Planting Pattern

Abstract

Planting peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) in narrow rows with greater spacing between plants in order to approach a square pattern of plant arrangement can reduce competition and increase growth, especially during juvenility. Thus, this study was designed to assess the effects of planting pattern, genotype, and their interaction on seasonal vegetative growth, fruit growth and development, pod and kernel yields, and market quality. Seven genotypes, ‘Florunner’, ‘Tamnut’, and five experimental lines were used. Planting patterns (interrow × intrarow spacing) of narrow row (0.46 × 0.15 m), row [(0.69−0.23) × 0.15 m], and conventional row (0.91 × 0.08 were each established at 15 plants m−2 (150 000 ha−1) in mid‐April of 1985 and 1986. The soil was an Arreodondo loamy sand (loamy, siliceous, hyperthermic, Grossarenic Paleudult) on The Agronomy Farm located near Gainesville, FL. Plots were 6.1 m long and three rows wide (conventional) or four rows wide (narrow and twin row). Florunner, Tamnut, and line 84‐516 from the seven genotypes were sampled biweekly for growth analysis. Plants in the narrow‐ and twin‐row planting patterns, compared to the conventional, had significantly greater ground cover, leaf area indices, canopy light interception, crop growth rates, and yields of total dry matter, pods, and kernels. Planting pattern had no significant effect (P > 0.05) on market quality. Florunner and Tamnut were superior to the experimental lines in growth and kernel yield. Planting pattern and genotype interaction effects on pod and kernel yields were not significant. We conclude that planting patterns that approach equidistant spacing or a square arrangement can produce higher pod and kernel yields than conventional (wide) rows. Furthermore, either narrow‐ or conventional‐row patterns are suitable for screening or testing genotypes of diverse growth habit and market type.

Relations Between Leaf Area Index and Growth Characteristics of Florunner, Southern Runner, and Sunrunner Peanut1

“…Williams (32) for groundnut in Rhodesia,and Pixleyet al (24,25) for peanut in Florida. Our maximum leaf area indexes (Fig.7) did not approach the higher values reported by Jaaffar and Gardner (15). However, they used a different technique based on a subsample and total dry weights of peanut plants, and may not have had as much foliar disease pressure.…”

“…Studies on the effects of environmental conditions (6,13), agronomic practices (15,20), and disease and insect pressure (3,17,21,31) on peanuttypicallyinclude information on various growth characteristics, such as leafarea and plant dryweight. Many studies on peanut culture focus only on the endproducts ofyield and grade (7,16,17).…”

Effects of plant population density and cultivar on growth, yield and yield components in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea 1.)

“…Most studies have shown variable rates of canopy closure during early growth among groundnut cultivars grown at different plant population densities (Jaaffar & Gardner, 1988). This has been associated with differences in canopy structure (Mozingo, Coffelt & Wynne, 1987).…”

“…Thus, canopy structure may affect groundnut responses to plant population density in terms of solar radiation interception and growth of the crop (Jaaffar & Gardner, 1988).…”

The Influence of Plant Population Spatial Arrangement on Individual Plant Yield

“…Spatial arrangement has been quantified as the mean rectangularity, or the ratio of distance between rows to the distance between plants within a row (e.g., Fawcett 1964, Nerson 1980, Jaaffar and Gardner 1988, Sutherland et al 1989. The influence of rectangularity has been quantified by measuring mean population yield rather than individual plant yield within the population.…”