Diversity of pod weight of Indonesian local groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) varieties at different harvesting time

Abstract

Groundnut, a self-pollinated legume, is an important cash crop which has high oil seed content and provides nutritious fodder to livestock. Harvesting time is very critical to the groundnut production, because their maturity determines the pod weight. This study aimed to observe the pod weight of local groundnut varieties of Indonesia at different harvesting time. A total of 50 local varieties groundnut were grown at ICABIOGRAD Experimental Station from May-September 2015. The pods were harvested at 75, 85 and 95 days after planting (DAP) and weighed. The results showed that the accessions reached its physiological maturity at 85 DAP, where the plants reached the highest maturity index (2.28). The average maturity index at 75 and 95 DAP was 1.64 and 1.84, respectively. The pod weightat 75, 85 and 95 DAP ranged from 1.0 to 31.4 g, 4.2 to 35.2 g and 2.0 to 31.6 g, respectively, whereas the seed weight ranged from 1.0 to 20.8 g, 2.2 to 26.4 g and 1.4 to 24 g, respectively. A relatively high seed and hull weight ratio at 85 DAP was found in MLG 1629 Jombang, MLG 7552 Gresik, Hoi Ambon, Lanbau and AH 842Si varieties. The harvesting time should be done at physiological maturity to identify the maturity type among local varieties. It is recommended that the Indonesian local varieties of groundnuts should be harvested at 85 DAP.