Progress Report Series No. 94
AgricuIltural Experiment Station
AUBURN UNIVERSITY
L19.ARY anuary 1971
PR 
1971 
, 
.
S V Smith, Director
' Auburn, Alabama
Soil Fertility Experiments with Peanuts 
in 1970
Dallas H-lartzog and Fred Adams*
THE COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM which was
begun in 1967 between farmers and Auburn Univer-
sity Agricultural Experiment Station to better define
soil fertility requirements of peanuts and to improve
correlation between fertilizer requirements and soil-
test values was continued in 1970.
Thirty-one experiments were conducted in 1970 in
five counties but, for various reasons, only 22 experi-
ments were harvested (6 each in Dale, Henry, and
Pike, 3 in Barbour, and 1 in Houston).
The experimental area on each farm was divided
into either 8, 12, or 16 plots, each plot being 4 rows
wide and 100 feet long. Each farmer planted, culti-
vated, dusted or sprayed, and harvested peanuts
within all plots the same as those in the remainder of
his field. The experimental fertilizer was applied by
the researcher. Four plots in each experiment re-
ceived no treatment; the remaining plots received
one of the following treatments: (1) a phosphorus-
potassium fertilizer, (2) calcium, or (3) boron.
FERTILIZER (P AND K) EXPERIMENTS
Five experiments were conducted to determine if
fertilizer should be applied directly to peanuts. Corn
was the preceding crop in four experiments; the fifth
experiment was on land which was idle in 1969. Fer-
tilizer was applied broadcast at a rate of 400 pounds
SResearch Associate and Professor, Dept. of Agronomy and
Soils.
per acre of 0-10-20 on four of the eight experimental
plots; the other plots received no fertilizer. The fer-
tilizer was "turned under" by the farmer in four ex-
periments; it was applied on turned land in the fifth
experiment (Sanders' farm) and then disked in. Two
experiments were with the Florigiant variety, two
were with Florunner, and one was with Early Run-
ner. Four of the soils tested "high" in phosphorus
and one tested "medium"; four tested "medium" in
potassium and one tested "low."
The results of these experiments are given in Table
1. Only three of the experiments were harvested for
yield; all were harvested for grade measurements.
In no case did fertilizer statistically increase yield or
grade. The results in 1970 substantiate those found
in the 3 previous years: fertilizer applied directly to
peanuts did not increase yield.
CALCIUM (Ca) EXPERIMENTS
Nine experiments in which calcium was applied
as a topdressing at early blooming at a rate of 1,000
pounds per acre of gypsum or basic slag were har-
vested. Soil-test calcium ranged from 108 pounds
per acre (low) to 450 pounds per acre (high), and soil
pH ranged from 4.6 to 5.5. Results of the calcium ex-
periments are summarized in Table 2.
Yield was increased in three of the seven experi-
ments with the Florigiant variety. On soils with cal-
cium levels of 108 pounds to 142 pounds per acre
(low), yield increases ranged from 480 pounds to
TABLE 1. EFFECT OF FERTILIZER ON YIELD AND SMK OF FLORIGIANT, FLORUNNER, AND EARLY RUNNER PEANUTS, ALABAMA, 1970
Variety and County Soil type Soil-test values Yield per acre* SMK
farmer 
pH P K No fert. 
Fert. No fert. Fert.
Florigiant 
Lb./A. Lb./A. Lb. Lb. Pct. Pct.
R. Harris Dale Norfolk fine sandy loam 5.1 37(M) 52(L) 2,440 2,630 74 71
G. Croft Dale Lakeland loamy sand 6.3 56(H) 61(M) 63 63
Florunner
G. Croft Dale Shubuta fine sandy loam 6.0 76(H) 108(M) 3,990 4,060 71 71
E. Sanders Henry Norfolk fine sandy loam 6.1 62(H) 70(M) 73 72
Early Runner
B. Deloney, Jr. Dale Ruston fine sandy loam 5.3 58(H) 64(M) 2,650 2,470 71 71
* Yields are not statistically different.
FERTLIZR (PANDK) XPE~hr(NTSpouns pr .
" " ; _ " f " -n
\ 4
1,300 pounds per acre. On these three soils, gypsum
increased grade (SMK) by 8 to 33 percentage points.
On two soils testing ."high" and "medium" in calcium
the addition of gypsum did not increase yield. On
one experiment (Martin farm) with 203 pounds of
calcium (low) there was no response to added gyp-
sum. The pH on this experiment was 4.6 and it is
believed that low pH rather than calcium was the
limiting factor affecting yield.
Virginia 67 variety was planted in one experiment.
It was on a soil that tested "low" (189 pounds per
acre). Topdressing with gypsum increased yield by
380 pounds per acre and SMK by 6 percentage points.
Early Runner variety was planted in one experi-
ment. It was on a soil testing "medium" (263 pounds
per acre). Topdressing with gypsum or basic slag did
not increase yield or grade.
Since 1967, 26 experiments in which gypsum was
applied as a topdressing have been harvested. The
soil-test calcium ranged from 108 pounds per acre
(low) to 484 pounds per acre (high). Yields have been
increased by adding gypsum only on soils with less
than 200 pounds of Ca per acre (low). During the 4
years, there have been only two soils with soil-test
calcium of about 200 pounds per acre and below that
did not respond to gypsum; one had a pH of 4.9 and
the other 4.6. Such low pH values will prevent a
favorable effect from the gypsum. Experiments dur-
ing 1967-1970 have included the common varieties
Early Runner, Florigiant, and Virginia Bunch 67.
Regardless of variety, gypsum has failed to increase
yields on any soil with soil-test calcium much above
200 pounds per acre.
BORON (B) EXPERIMENTS
Eight experiments with boron were harvested. The
boron content of these soils ranged from 0.063
pound per acre to a high of 0.135 pound per acre.
According to results from prior years, "hollow-heart"
could be expected to occur on soils with soil boron
levels below 0.14 pound per acre. All eight boron
experiments in 1970 had available soil boron levels
below this value and were expected to show symp-
toms of boron deficiency. The data in Table 3 
show,
however, that "hollow-heart" failed to occur in any
experiment. Neither were yields and SMKs affected
by boron fertilizer. Since "hollow-heart" did not oc-
cur on any of these fields nor any other experimental
field in 1970, it is assumed that environmental 
factors
such as amount and distribution of rainfall, 
especi-
ally during the fruiting stages, must have played an
important, but little understood role, in the occur-
rence of "hollow-heart." Boron deficiency has 
been
observed to be more prevalent in dry seasons.
TABLE 2. EFFECT OF TOPDRESSING CALCIUM AT RATE OF 1,000 POUNDS PER ACRE OF 
GYPSUM OR BASIC SLAG ON YIELD AND PER CENTSOUND 
MATURE 
KERNEL 
(SMK) 
OF PEANUTS, 
ALABAMA, 
1970
Variety and farmer County Soil type 
Soil pH Soil-test Yield per acre SMK
Ca No Ca Gypsum Basic slag No Ca Gypsum Basic slag
Florigiant Lb./A. Lb. Lb. Lb. Pct. Pct. Pct.
H. Etheridge Henry Norfolk sandy loam-------- 5.5 450(H) 
2,690 2,710 62 66 --
R. C. Armstrong Henry Norfolk sandy loam-------- 5.2 138(L) 1,050
*  
2,360
*  
26* 59* ..
Y. Willoughby Houston Troup loamy sand 4.9 142(L) 1,710* 
2,750* 40* 70*
D. H. Holland Dale Ruston sandy loam--------- 5.5 348(M) 
2,880 2,780 ----- 64 66 --
F. Martin Barbour Ruston sandy loam 4.6 203(L) 
2,560 2,450 69 69
J. Childers Barbour Ruston sandy loam......... 5.0 108(L) 
1,520* 2,000* 63* 71 -
R. Griffin Barbour Ruston sandy loam 5.2 
187(L) 2,690 2,970 2,880 68 70 68
Virginia 67
J. Hartzog Henry
Early Runner
Orangeburg sandy loam 5.1 189(L) 1,770* 2,150
D. T. Williams Henry Creenville sandy loam 4.7 263(M) 1,970 1,850 2,020
* Increases in yield and percentage SMK on gypsum plots over non-gypsum plots 
were statistically different.
59* 65*
66 65 65
TABLE 3. EFFECT OF BORON APPLIED AT RATE OF I POUND PER ACRE OF B ON 
YIELD, PER CENT SOUND MATURE KERNEL (SMK), AND
PER CENT HOLLOW-HEART OF PEANUTS, ALABAMA, 1970
Variety and farmer County
Florigiant
L. Shipman Pike
A. H. Thompson Dale
B. Drinkard Pike
Florunner
M. Flowers Pike
E. Sanders Henry
E. McDaniel Pike
L. Windham Pike
M. Flowers Pike
Soil type
Cahaba sand
Susquehanna sandy loam
Norfolk sand ..........
Norfolk sand
Norfolk sandy loam
Ruston sandy loam
Norfolk sand
Norfolk sand
Soil-test Yield per acre SMK Hollow-heart
No B Added B No B Added B No B Added B
Lb./A. Lb. Lb. Pct. Pct. Pct. Pct.
0.063 3,350 3,340 70 71 0.0 
0.0
0.070 ---- 71 71 
0.0 0.0
0.135 2,520 2,600 77 71 0.0 
0.0
0.101
0.073
0.073
0.083
0.071
1,470 1,570 72
72
1,210 1,200 68
1,390 1,390 65
61
73
75
67
64
60
0.0 0.0
0.33 0.0
0.33 0.25
0.25 0.25
0.0 0.0
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