Agronomical considerations on the pattern of flower production of irrigated groundnut [Arachis hypogaea] cultivars under the semi-arid tropical India

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Tropical Agriculture Vol. 35; no. 1; pp. 25 - 31
• Main Authors: Maeda, K. (Kochi Univ., Nankoku (Japan). Faculty of Agriculture), Wadia, K.D.R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese; English
• Published: Japanese Society for Tropical Agriculture 01.03.1991
• Subjects: ARACHIS HYPOGAEA; Dry season; FLEUR; FLORES; Flower production; FLOWERS; INDE; INDIA; Irrigated groundnut; IRRIGATION; Rainy season; RIEGO; Semi-arid tropical India; SEMIARID ZONES; TROPICAL ZONES; ZONA SEMIARIDA; ZONA TROPICAL; ZONE SEMI ARIDE; ZONE TROPICALE
• ISSN: 0021-5260; 2185-0259
• DOI: 10.11248/jsta1957.35.25

In the semi-arid tropical India, most of the groundnut are cultivated as a rain-fed crop in the kharif, rainy season. However, in both kharif and dry post-rainy rabi seasons, irrigation is necessary for high yields, and vigorous vegetative growth is observed with a little added fertilizer and/or disease and pest control by chemicals. The leaves of many plants of all 17 cultivars, grown at the ICRISAT Center, in rainy and dry seasons of 3 years, showed the symptom of wilting in different degrees, between the furrow-irrigations at about 10-day intervals and/or rains, but the main-stem leaves emerged linearly and insensitively to the change of soil moisture. Contrary to this leaf emergence, daily flowering remarkably showed the rest and flush to the soil moisture stress and its recovery. Cultivaral difference in the seasonal pattern of flower increase and its response to the change of soil moisture suggested a close relationship between soil moisture loss and ground-covering characteristics by the plant canopy at ICRISAT's usual spacing of 0.75×0.15-0.20m. These observations also showed a need to re-examine the relationships between the irrigation intervals and optimal spacing for the cultivars differing the plant type grown under the different soil type and fertility. That is, the agro-physiological study to enhance the canopy development and reproductive growth by irrigation schedule is needed. More frequent irrigation until canopy-performance and longer intervals of irrigation thereafter may optimize both the efficiencies of the reproductive growth and water consumption, particularly, under semi-arid tropical conditions.