Peanut Seed Germination as Related to Soil Water Regime During Pod Development 1

The problem of poor peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) seed germination has appeared to follow exceptionally dry years in Georgia; consequently, the interaction of soil water availability during the growing season and subsequent seed germination were studied. These results are a composite of 4 years of study under controlled rainfall shelters on Tifton loamy sand, a member of the fine-loamy, siliceous, thermic Plinthic Paleudults, at six soil water levels. Soil water levels involved irrigation at specified soil water tensions in surface 30 or 60 cm. Soil water tension ranged from + 0.2 to > 15 bar. Good germination of all varieties was obtained when the average soil water tension in the surface 30 cm was maintained at less than 0.6 bars. On the other hand, allowing ‘Florigiant’ to reach a soil water tension greater than 15 bars during the growing season lowered its percentage of sound mature kernels 34%. Of those sound mature kernels, germination was lowered on an average 20%. By contrast, under the similar treatment, SMK's of ‘Florunner’ and ‘Tifspan’ were lowered 22 and 7%, respectively, and the germination of either cultivar was lowered only about 5%. Thus, the large-seeded Virginia type peanut, Florigiant, was found to be the most susceptible to droughty soil conditions. Irrigation appears to be good insurance against poor peanut seed germination in the following year.