Physical and Mechanical Properties of Some Peanut Varieties Grown in Mediterranean Environment

Abstract

Peanut is one of the most important oil crops in Turkey and grown mainly in Adana, Osmaniye and Aydın provinces. Five peanut cultivars (NC-V11, Halisbey, Arioglu 2003, Sultan and Osmaniye 2005), mostly grown in Turkey, were analyzed for the physical and mechanical characteristics of pods to select the most promising candidate. The average length, width, thickness, the geometric mean diameter, sphericity index and rupture force were studied. The results indicated that all the studied traits were varied significant among the varieties. Thus, a significant extent of genetic diversity was observed among the peanut cultivars under study. Shelling percentage values were varied between 65.7 - 71.6%. The highest shelling percentage was obtained at NC-V11 variety, while the lowest value was obtained at Sultan. The variety NC-V11, Halisbey, Arioglu 2003, Sultan and Osmaniye 2005 showed the average lengths of 42.27, 44.68, 46.17, 49.39 and 44.57 mm; width of 16.00, 17.90, 17.57, 17.45, and 17.92 mm; thickness of 17.33; 18.68; 18.54, 18.42, and 19.10 mm, respectively. Rupture force and stiffness values of peanuts depend on the cultivars and varied from 191.06 to 253.19 N and 129715.61 to 184954.67 N/m as higher and lower values, respectively. The varieties Arioglu 2003, Halisbey and Sultan have lower rupture force and stiffness values. On the other hand, NC-V-11 and Osmaniye-2005 varieties have higher value of rupture force and stiffness. These findings indicated that these two varieties need to more energy for hull rupture. But, in the same time, it played an important role for storage. The NC-V-11 variety achieved the highest values of rupture force than others. Some varieties had thick and strong hull, while some other had thin and weak.