COMPOSITION OF DEVELOPING PEANUT SEED

Abstract

In a review of plant fats in relation to environment and evolution, McNAIR (5) noted that several factors influence fat production; stage of development, carbohydrate percentage, vegetative vigor, heredity, and environment. IVANOW (4) showed that the percentage of oil increased in ripening flaxseed as the percentage of sugars decreased. In general, studies on the composition of maturing oil seeds have usually dealt only with the quantitative and quali-tative aspects of the crude lipid fraction and in some cases with the soluble sugars. MARKLEY (6) pointed out, however, that moisture content, weight of seed, and percentage of other constituents in addition to histological and anatomical data are also necessary for proper interpretation of the synthesis of fatty acids in the growing plant. PATEL and SESHADRI (7) tagged flowers and reported that the bunch pea-nut of the Spanish type locally known in India as Gudiyattum required 95 days from planting or 60 days after flowering to produce mature nuts. Al-though tagging the flowers was of distinct value in evaluating the age of the nuts, the authors indicated that the seeds from flowers which opened on the same day did not develop at the same rate. The gynophores from the flowers near the soil entered the earth and produced seeds earlier than those more distant. They noted that the percentage of oil on the dry basis increased very slowly at the beginning and ending of the developmental period. Oil was synthesized rapidly between the 32nd and 46th day after flowering. GARNER, et al. (3) found that under the conditions of their studies climatic variations had more effect on size of seed and on oil content than did differ-ences in the soils. GALLUP and STATEN (2) compared peanut fruits taken at a stage of growth about five weeks prior to normal harvest with those obtained at normal harvest. On a dry weight basis, the percentage of ash, protein, and crude fiber showed little or no change, while the ether extract fraction in-creased from 31.28% to 36.11%. The fruiting habit of the peanut is peculiar; the flowers develop above the ground, but after fertilization of the ovule the stalk of the ovary lengthens. The elongating gynophore, popularly known as a "peg", pushes the ovary into the soil where it develops into shell and seed. Since blossoming is pro-gressive over a period of sevetal weeks, difficulty in determining the exact stage of development of the fruits by the planting date alone is quite evident. It is generally believed that in the Piedmont area of Georgia, Spanish type