Effects of Planting Date and Irrigation on Yield and Grade in Runner-type Peanut Cultivars in North Florida

Peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L.) have been one of the most profitable crops in the southeastern coastal plains but with increasing cost of production, growers continually seek to lower inputs and enhance overall profitability of their farms. Peanut cultivars with high yield potential and disease resistance along with drought tolerance are therefore obvious choices for sustainable production. Runner-type peanut cultivars were evaluated for pod yield and grade for three yr. Five peanut cultivars were evaluated in 2014 and 2015 and six cultivars in 2016 at the North Florida Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Quincy, FL. Cultivar performance was observed at different planting dates, four in 2014 and three in 2015 and 2016, to evaluate impacts of early, mid, and late planting with and without irrigation. Georgia cultivar GA-12Y consistently yielded greater than the other varieties in all yr of the study. Average pod yield for GA-12Y was 5980 kg/ha for three yr compared to 5140 kg/ha, 4730 kg/ha, 4890 kg/ha for GA-06G, FloRun 107, and TUFRunner 511, respectively. Florida cultivar TUFRunner 297 yielded greater (5300 kg/ha) than the rest of Florida cultivars irrespective of the planting date and had higher proportion of total sound mature kernels (TSMK) compared to GA-12Y in two of the three yr. Planting date had no impact on peanut pod yield in 2014 and 2015. However, peanut yield for all the cultivars was higher at later planting dates in 2016. The advantage of irrigation was not always consistent in all the yr, likely due to high rainfall during the study yr, removing that advantage.