Washington, DC
February 8, 2008By
Sharon
Durham
Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
agronomists
Russell Nuti and
Ron Sorensen at the National Peanut Research Laboratory (NPRL)
in Dawson, Ga., are adapting farm planting equipment to plant
runner-type peanuts in a diamond formation.
This planting regimen has been
found to increase yield and improve disease management in
runner-type peanuts, compared to the single-row planting method
often used by peanut farmers. This work was begun by former NPRL
agricultural engineer Don Sternitzke.
In a diamond formation, each
3-foot-wide planting bed has four equidistant rows, with six
seeds planted per foot. Spacing plants in this uniform,
staggered manner has been found to reduce plant-to-plant
competition and achieve canopy closure sooner, helping keep the
soil cool and moist.
Now the researchers are testing
the diamond planting scheme with a different type of peanut. In
a new three-year study, conducted with Naveen Puppala and Sangu
Angadi of New Mexico State
University, researchers are using a more erect growing
peanut type, the Valencia.
Valencia's upright growth habit
may make this peanut type more amenable to the diamond planting
arrangement than vine-like varieties grown in Georgia. According
to Nuti, Valencia peanuts don't achieve row closure like runners
do, especially when planted in single rows. However, in the
diamond planting configuration the crop has a better chance to
out-compete weeds, thus reducing early competition for water,
nutrients, and light.
In first-year data collected,
it appears several populations of diamond planting are equal in
yield and profit to a twin-row configuration, and both diamond
and twin-row configurations produce higher yields than does the
conventional single row. It is apparent that higher seed input
in twin row and diamond patterns increased yield and profit,
according to Nuti.
Read more about this research in the February 2008 issue of
Agricultural Research magazine.
ARS is the
U.S. Department of Agriculture's
chief scientific research agency.
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Diamond planting design and planter
for peanut crops |
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A
variety of machinery and techniques
is required to plant, cultivate, and
harvest the wide range of U.S.
agricultural commodities.
Over
the years,
ARS has researched many
innovations in equipment and
methods. For example, adapting
equipment to plant runner-type
peanuts in a diamond formation has
been found to increase yield and
improve disease management over the
single-row planting method. ARS
agronomists Russell Nuti and Ron
Sorensen at the National Peanut
Research Laboratory (NPRL) in
Dawson, Georgia, are continuing this
research, which was first developed
by former NPRL agricultural engineer
Don Sternitzke.
In a
diamond formation, each 3-foot-wide
planting bed has four equidistant
rows, with six seeds planted per
foot. Spacing plants in this
uniform, staggered manner has been
found to reduce plant-to-plant
competition and achieve canopy
closure sooner, helping to keep the
soil cool and moist.
Now, a
new 3-year research study is being
conducted with Naveen Puppala and
Sangu Angadi of New Mexico State
University using Valencia, a more
erect-growing peanut type.
Valencia’s upright growth habit may
make it more amenable to the diamond
planting arrangement than vinelike
varieties grown in Georgia.
“Valencias don’t achieve row closure
like runners do, especially when
planted in single rows,” says Nuti.
“Another benefit of the diamond
planting configuration is that the
crop has a better chance to
outcompete weeds, thus reducing
early competition for water,
nutrients, and light.”
In
first-year data collected, it
appears that several populations of
diamond planting are equal in yield
and profit to a twin-row
configuration and that both diamond
and twin-row outproduce the
conventional single-row.
“It is
apparent that both twin-row and
diamond patterns increased yield and
profit,” says Nuti. “But we still
need to know more about how planting
patterns affect growth and
fruiting.”—By
Sharon Durham,
Agricultural Research Service
Information Staff.
This research is part of Crop
Production (#305) and Water Resource
Management (#201), two ARS national
programs described on the World Wide
Web at
www.nps.ars.usda.gov.
Russell Nuti and
Ron Sorensen are with the
USDA-ARS
National Peanut Research Laboratory,
1011 Forrester Dr., S.E., Dawson, GA
39842-0509; phone (229) 995-7449,
fax (229) 995-7416.
"Diamond Planting Design and
Planter for Peanut Crops"
was published in the
February 2008 issue of
Agricultural Research magazine. |
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Por
Sharon
Durham
8 de febrero 2008
Los científicos
Russell Nuti y
Ron Sorenson, quienes son agrónomos con el Servicio de
Investigación Agrícola (ARS),
están adaptando equipos para sembrar plantas de cacahuetes del
tipo rastrero en formación de diamante. Nuti y Sorenson trabajan
en el Laboratorio Nacional de Investigación de Cacahuetes (NPRL
por sus siglas en inglés) mantenido por el ARS en Dawson,
Georgia.
En experimentos, los
científicos descubrieron que este régimen de sembrar aumentó
rendimientos y mejoró el manejo de enfermedades en las plantas
de cacahuetes del tipo rastrero, comparado con el método de
sembrar en una sola fila frecuentemente usado por los
cultivadores del cacahuete. Este trabajo fue comenzado por el
ingeniero agrícola Don Sternitzke, anteriormente con NPRL.
En formación de diamante, cada
cama de plantar de tres pies de anchura tiene cuatro filas
equidistantes, con seis semillas sembradas por pie. Espaciar las
plantas en esta manera uniforme y escalonada reduce la
competición entre las plantas de cacahuete y produce más
rápidamente un cierre de dosel, ayudando a preservar la frescura
y humedad del suelo.
Ahora los investigadores están
probando la técnica de sembrar en formación de diamante con un
tipo diferente de cacahuete. En un nuevo estudio de tres años,
realizado por Naveen Puppala y Sangu Angadi de la
Universidad Estatal de Nuevo
México, investigadores están usando el tipo de cacahuete
llamado 'Valencia', el cual crece más erecto.
El crecimiento vertical de
Valencia podría causar que este tipo de cacahuete sea más bien
dispuesto a la técnica de sembrar en formación de diamante,
comparado con las variedades de cacahuetes del tipo rastrero
ahora cultivadas en Georgia. Según Nuti, las plantas de
cacahuetes Valencia no logran el cierre de fila como hace el
tipo rastrero, especialmente cuando sembradas en las solas
filas. Sin embargo, con la configuración de sembrar en formación
de diamante, el cultivo tiene mejor oportunidad para desplazar
las malezas, de este modo reduciendo la competición temprana
para agua, nutrientes y luz.
En datos colectados durante el
primer año del estudio, parece que varias poblaciones de plantas
de cacahuete sembradas en formación de diamante produjeron
rendimientos y ganancias iguales con aquellos producidos por la
utilización de una configuración de dos filas. Tanto la
configuración de diamante como la configuración de dos filas
rinden más que el método convencional de una sola fila. Es
aparente que sembrar más semillas en las configuraciones de
diamante y de dos filas aumenta los rendimientos y ganancias,
según Nuti.
Lea más sobre esta investigación en la revista 'Agricultural
Research' de febrero 2008.
ARS es la agencia principal
de investigaciones científicas del Departamento
de Agricultura de EE.UU. |
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