Technical Paper
Daily Light Period Influences Pod Yield, Harvest Index, and Flowering of Peanut Grown in Nutrient Film Technique
2002-07-15
2002-01-2488
‘Georgia Red’ peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) was grown at 8-, 12-, 16-, and 20-h light [9.3, 18.6, 13.95, and 23.9 mol m-2 d-1 integrated photosynthetic photon flux (PPF)] /16, 12-, 8-, and 4-h dark cycles, respectively, to evaluate effects on pod and seed yield, flowering, harvest index (HI) and production efficiency, in response to duration and amount of daily lighting. Ten-day old peanut seedlings were transplanted into rectangular nutrient film technique troughs (0.15 × 0.15 × 1.2 m) and grown for 110 days. Growth chamber conditions were as follows: photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) mean of 332 μmol m −2 s −1, 28°C light/24°C dark cycle, and 70 ±5% relative humidity. The nutrient solution used was a modified half-Hoagland with pH and electrical conductivity maintained between 6.5-6.7, and 1000-1200 μS cm-1 respectively, and was replenished weekly.