The Effect of Pre-harvest Haulm Cutting on Pod Yield and Quality in Peanut

Abstract

The effects of harvesting of peanut (Çom cv) foliage four different dates (0, 10, 20, 30 days) and different three cutting heights of foliage (5, 10, 15 cm) before pod harvesting times on pod yield and some yield characters were determined in this study. The experiment was conducted in the Eastern Mediterranean Agricultural Research Institute. The experimental design was randomized complete block design arranged in split plots with three replications. In the experiment, fresh and dry hay yield, 100 seed weight, seed ratio, 1 st quality pod yield, 3 rd quality pod yield and pod yield were determined. Fresh folage yields varied between 28476 and 50154 kg/ha, dry hay yields varied between 7016 and 14621 kg/ha, 100 seed weight varied between 78.6 and 88.6 g, shelling rate varied between 63.6 and 67.3 %, 1 st quality pod yield varied between 2226 and 2483 kg/ha, 3 rd quality pod yield varied between 73 and 223 kg/ha, pod yield varied between 1944 and 3739 kg/ha. Cutting the green parts before the pod harvest has negatively affected the yield and the yield characters. In peanuts, pod yield decreased proportionally with the early cutting of the green parts and the cutting height from the bottom. As a result, fruit losses of 63.5% in the cuttings made 30 days before the harvest, 37.4% in the cuttings made 20 days before and 15.4% in the cuttings made 10 days before the harvest were determined in the Çom peanut cultivar.  It is very important that there is a high quality animal fed deficit in our country and that both the fruit and quality green grass are obtained in peanuts.