Peanut Pod Research Articles

Influence of Peanut Orientation on Microwave Sensing of Moisture Content in Cleaned Unshelled Peanuts

An investigation of the influence of unshelled peanut orientation on microwave moisture sensing from measurement of dielectric properties is presented for the first time in this article. A free-space dielectric measurement technique was used for measurement on cleaned unshelled peanuts at 9.6 GHz with a pair of low-cost printed Yagi-Uda antennas. The peanut sample was placed between the transmitting and receiving antennas in a cubical polyester sample container (76 mm <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times76$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times76$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm). Influence of orientations of the peanut pods, were studied with 2, 3, 4 and 6-direction measurements of the dielectric properties of the sample. The different measurement directions were obtained by rotation of the cubical sample container. The dielectric properties were determined from measurements of the attenuation and phase-shift caused by the peanut sample when placed between the antennas. The dielectric properties of the peanut sample were found to be dependent on the orientation distribution of pods. The average value of dielectric properties determined from 6-direction measurement was more representative of the dielectric properties of the bulk peanut sample. A temperature-compensated function for the dielectric properties and subsequent moisture content calibration equation were established and used during the in-field testing. Results of the in-field microwave moisture measurements are compared with values obtained by using the official moisture determination method (capacitance-type meter).

Analysis of the Transcriptional Dynamics of Regulatory Genes During Peanut Pod Development Caused by Darkness and Mechanical Stress

Peanut is an oil crop with important economic value that is widely cultivated around the world. It blooms on the ground but bears fruit underground. When the peg penetrates the ground, it enters a dark environment, is subjected to mechanical stress from the soil, and develops into a normal pod. When a newly developed pod emerges from the soil, it turns green and stops growing. It has been reported that both darkness and mechanical stress are necessary for normal pod development. In this study, we investigated changes in gene expression during the reverse process of peg penetration: developmental arrest caused by pod (Pattee 3 pods) excavation. Bagging the aerial pods was used to simulate loss of mechanical pressure, while direct exposure of the aerial pods was used to simulate loss of both mechanical pressure and darkness. After the loss of mechanical stress and darkness, the DEGs were significantly enriched in photosynthesis, photosynthesis–antenna proteins, plant–pathogen interaction, DNA replication, and circadian rhythm pathways. The DNA replication pathway was enriched by down-regulated genes, and the other four pathways were enriched by upregulated genes. Upregulated genes were also significantly enriched in protein ubiquitination and calmodulin-related genes, highlighting the important role of ubiquitination and calcium signaling in pod development. Further analysis of DEGs showed that phytochrome A (Phy A), auxin response factor 9 (IAA9), and mechanosensitive ion channel protein played important roles in geocarpy. The expression of these two genes increased in subterranean pods but decreased in aerial pods. Based on a large number of chloroplast-related genes, calmodulin, kinases, and ubiquitin-related proteins identified in this study, we propose two possible signal transduction pathways involved in peanut geocarpy, namely, one begins in chloroplasts and signals down through phosphorylation, and the other begins during abiotic stress and signals down through calcium signaling, phosphorylation, and ubiquitination. Our study provides valuable information about putative regulatory genes for peanut pod development and contributes to a better understanding of the biological phenomenon of geocarpy.

Biotribological Characteristic of Peanut Harvesting Impact-Friction Contact under Different Conditions

Although cutting flow peanut-picking is the main peanut harvesting method, it has the problems of a large harvest loss and a high damage rate of peanut shells. The analysis of impact-friction contact characteristics during peanut fruit picking is crucial to illustrate peanut fruit picking damage. A typical peanut variety, “Dabaisha”, was considered in this study. The characteristics of peanut-picking impact-friction were studied using a peanut-picking impact-friction test bench under different conditions. An orthogonal test with three factors and levels was performed after the single-factor condition was determined. The apparent morphologies of peanut shells before and after the collision and friction tests were compared and analyzed using micro-computed tomography, white-light interferometry, and optical microscopy, whereas the impact-friction damage characteristics of peanuts under the influence of various factors were discussed. The results show that the orders of influence of the coefficient of friction of peanuts and wear loss of peanut pods were as follows: invasion depth &gt; moisture content &gt; contact linear velocity and moisture content &gt; invasion depth &gt; contact linear velocity, respectively. The experimental results and discussion in this study can provide a data reference for developing and designing peanut mechanization production equipment.

Optimizing Crop Systems: Integrating Forage Triticale into the Fallow of Peanut Monoculture in the North China Plain

Integrating a forage crop into the fallow (F) of the peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) (P) mono-cropping system is a practical approach to provide forage yield and increase the resource use efficiency. However, little information about the comprehensive assessment of water utilization and economic benefits in the crop–livestock system exists for the North China Plain (NCP). This study aims to identify the crop rotation for optimizing water management and enhance economic benefit. The field experiment was performed over three years (2011–2014) to assess production, water utilization, and economic benefits when inserting forage triticale (X Triticosecale Wittmack) (T) into the peanut mono-cropping system. Results showed that replacing the fallow F-P cropping system with forage triticale provided a substantial amount of forage (the average of 9.8 t ha−1 per year) and enhanced the average system productivity by 85.1%. Cultivation of forage triticale during the fallow period decreased the subsequent peanut pod yield by 8.3% due to a 19.3% decline in soil water storage capacity during the sowing stage of peanut. Replacing fallow with forage triticale increased the system net income by 1016.2 US$ ha−1 and the water use efficiency (WUE) by 30.0%, while not affecting the economic efficiency of water use (EEWU), and thus can be recommended as a better option for maintaining relatively high system production, economic benefit, and WUE in NCP.

Peanut drying: Effects of various drying methods on drying kinetic models, physicochemical properties, germination characteristics, and microstructure

The current work aims to explore the suitable drying technique for peanut pods which can be used for seeds or edible peanuts. Four drying methods, namely naturally-open sun drying as the control check (CK), hot air drying (HAD), pulsed vacuum drying (PVD), and radio frequency combined hot air drying (RF-HAD), were employed to dry peanut pods, and their effects on the nutritional quality attributes in terms of protein, fat, fatty acid contents, etc., germination characteristics, microstructure, color, texture, acid value and peroxide value of peanuts were explored. Mathematical models of peanuts drying with four drying methods were also established. According to the statistical parameters including the determination coefficient (R2)、root mean square error (RMSE) and chi-square value (χ2), the Weibull model was best for predicting the moisture ratio change kinetics of peanuts during its four drying processes. There were significant differences in physicochemical indexes of peanut by different drying methods (p < 0.05). Fat and oleic acid contents under RF-HAD were significantly higher than those by the other three drying methods. Compared with the naturally-open sun drying, RF–HAD reduced drying time by 76.70% and the microstructure of RF-HAD peanuts produced larger and more cavities. The RF-HAD kept better comprehensive nutritional quality, but the germination rate was reduced by 27.80%. PVD could maintain good nutritional quality and germination rate among these mechanical drying technologies. However, PVD had a longer drying time of 9.5 h than RF-HAD and HAD, and the microstructure of pulsed vacuum dried peanuts showed dense structure and less cavity. Hot air-dried peanut kernel held the highest protein (28.75%), fatty acids contents (26.11%) and germination rate (88.00%). However, peanut kernel dried by HAD showed poor qualities, such as high acid value, peroxide value and large color changes. These findings indicated RF-HAD was a promising drying technique for edible peanuts regarding the higher drying rate and better–quality preservation, while HAD was suitable for peanut seeds drying as it could well protect the germination rate.

Soil loss due to harvesting of peanut and cassava under traditional farming systems: Cost implications of soil nutrient loss

Soil loss due to crop harvest contributes to land degradation, and knowledge of this challenge can guide the choice of crops for sustainable agriculture. Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava (<i>Manihot esculenta Crantz</i>) and the third largest producer of peanut (<i>Arachis hypogaea</i> Linn) in the world. Due to limited information on soil loss during peanut and cassava harvests worldwide, and cost of nutrient loss, a two-year field experiment was conducted to compare soil loss due to harvesting of peanut and cassava and to estimate cost of nutrient loss due to crop harvest under traditional agriculture. Peanut pod yields of 2.39 and 2.08 t ha^–1harvest^–1 removed 0.62 and 0.58 t ha^–1 harvest^–1 during peanut harvest, respectively, for years 1 and 2. Similarly, cassava yields of 22.71 and 21.40 t ha^–1 harvest^–1 removed 1.11 and 0.91 t ha^–1harvest^–1 during cassava harvest, respectively, for years 1 and 2. Crop yields strongly correlated with soil loss due to peanut harvest (<i>R</i>²= 0.36; <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001) and soil loss due to cassava harvest (<i>R</i>² = 0.23; <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01). Significantly higher soil loss due to cassava harvest compared to peanut harvest can be ascribed to higher cassava yield. Also, soil nutrient loss due to crop harvest was significantly (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.001) higher for cassava compared with peanut by 27.6% phosphorus (P) and 73.7% potassium (K) for the first year and 39.2% P and 79.1% K for the second year. Fertilizer equivalent cost of P and K losses due to cassava harvest for the two years was higher than that of peanut by US$29 ha^–1. The study indicated that the intensity of nutrient loss by harvesting is largely dependent on the crop type, and harvesting of cassava can deplete soil nutrients faster than that of peanut under traditional agriculture. Sequential planting of cassava (deep rooted crop) followed by peanut (shallow rooted crop) as a crop rotation management practice is recommended to mitigate soil loss due to continuous harvesting of cassava, and harvesting with thorough shaking technique is also suggested to reduce nutrient loss potential of crop harvesting.

Peanut and cotton intercropping increases productivity and economic returns through regulating plant nutrient accumulation and soil microbial communities

BackgroundIntercropping (IC) has been widely adopted by farmers for enhancing crop productivity and economic returns; however, the underpinning mechanisms from the perspective of below-ground interspecific interactions are only partly understood especially when intercropping practices under saline soil conditions. By using permeable (100 μm) and impermeable (solid) root barriers in a multi-site field experiment, we aimed to study the impact of root-root interactions on nutrient accumulation, soil microbial communities, crop yield, and economic returns in a peanut/cotton IC system under non-saline, secondary-saline, and coastal saline soil conditions of China.ResultsThe results indicate that IC decreased the peanut pods yield by 14.00, 10.01, and 16.52% while increased the seed cotton yield by 61.99, 66.00, and 58.51%, respectively in three experimental positions, and consequently enhanced the economic returns by compared with monoculture of peanut (MP) and cotton (MC). The higher accumulations of nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) were also observed in IC not only in the soil but also in vegetative tissues and reproductive organs of peanut. Bacterial community structure analysis under normal growth conditions reveals that IC dramatically altered the soil bacterial abundance composition in both peanut and cotton strips of the top soil whereas the bacterial diversity was barely affected compared with MP and MC. At blossom-needling stage, the metabolic functional features of the bacterial communities such as fatty acid biosynthesis, lipoic acid metabolism, peptidoglycan biosynthesis, and biosynthesis of ansamycins were significantly enriched in MP compared with other treatments. Conversely, these metabolic functional features were dramatically depleted in MP while significantly enriched in IC at podding stage. Permeable root barrier treatments (NC-P and NC-C) counteracted the benefits of IC and the side effects were more pronounced in impermeable treatments (SC-P and SC-C).ConclusionPeanut/cotton intercropping increases crop yield as well as economic returns under non-saline, secondary-saline, and coastal saline soil conditions probably by modulating the soil bacterial abundance composition and accelerating plant nutrients accumulation.

A High-Throughput Imagery Protocol to Predict Functionality upon Fractality of Carbon-Capturing Biointerfaces

Surface quality is key for any adsorbent to have an effective adsorption. Because analyzing an adsorbent can be costly, we established an imagery protocol to determine adsorption robustly yet simply. To validate our hypothesis of whether stereomicroscopy, superpixel segmentation and fractal theory consist of an exceptional merger for high-throughput predictive analytics, we developed carbon-capturing biointerfaces by pelletizing hydrochars of sugarcane bagasse, pinewood sawdust, peanut pod hull, wheat straw, and peaty compost. The apochromatic stereomicroscopy captured outstanding micrographs of biointerfaces. Hence, it enabled the segmenting algorithm to distinguish between rough and smooth microstructural stresses by chromatic similarity and topological proximity. The box-counting algorithm then adequately determined the fractal dimension of microcracks, merely as a result of processing segments of the image, without any computational unfeasibility. The larger the fractal pattern, the more loss of functional gas-binding sites, namely N and S, and thus the potential sorption significantly decreases from 10.85 to 7.20 mmol CO2 g−1 at sigmoid Gompertz function. Our insights into analyzing fractal carbon-capturing biointerfaces provide forward knowledge of particular relevance to progress in the field’s prominence in bringing high-throughput methods into implementation to study adsorption towards upgrading carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon capture and utilization (CCU).

Design and Test of a Tangential-Axial Flow Picking Device for Peanut Combine Harvesting

This study presents a tangential-axial flow picking device for peanut combine harvesting. The device was designed with reference to the tangential-axial flow threshing mechanism of the grain combine harvesters. The main purpose of this study was to solve the problem of the high rate of loss and damage in the picking operation of the peanut combine harvesters in China. Through the theoretical analysis and design calculation of the key components of the peanut picking device, the structural and working parameters were determined. The orthogonal test was carried out by taking the feeding amount of the peanut plant, the picking clearance, the speed of the tangential cylinder, and the speed of the axial cylinder as the test factors. Additionally, the non-picking loss rate, entrainment loss rate, and damage rate of the peanut pods were used as the test indexes. The test results were analyzed by range analysis and analysis of variance, and the test parameters were optimized by fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. The optimal parameter combination for the tangential-axial flow picking device was determined as follows. The feeding amount of the peanut plant was 2 kg/s, the picking clearance was 35 mm, the speed of the tangential cylinder was 360 r/min, the speed of the axial cylinder was 425 r/min. At this time, the non-picking loss rate was 0.52%, the entrainment loss rate was 0.54%, and the damage rate was 0.75%. The test results fully met the standard requirements of the peanut picking operation. This research provides a technical basis for the application of the tangential-axial flow picking device in peanut combine harvesters.

Mediation of Peanut Moisture Content and System Optimization for Improved Shelling Performance of Small Peanut Sheller

HighlightsA whole-process experiment was done to incorporate both machine and peanut properties.Wetting and drying control for unbalanced moisture contents improved shelling performance.A Box-Behnken design and response surface method were used for system optimization on the small sheller.Unbalanced moisture contents resolved the controversial response between MDR and SE.System optimization quantified the optimum combination of moisture, drying time, and speed.Abstract. Improvement of peanut shelling performance for smallholders is challenging due to the numerous influential factors involved with both machinery and peanut properties. A Box-Behnken design (BBD) and response surface method (RSM) were used to simplify the experimental investigations. Sequential laboratory observations were made on wetting-and-drying pretreatments, single-factor tests, multiple-factor couplings, modeling and significance analysis, response surface analysis, and system optimization. Results showed that wetting-and-drying pretreatment can effectively mediate the physical properties of peanut pods for unbalanced moisture contents between the peanut shell and kernel, contributing to improved mechanical damage rate (MDR) and shelling efficiency (SE). Statistical analysis of MDR and SE models identified the rated effects as: moisture content (MC) &amp;gt; cylinder speed (CS) &amp;gt; drying time (DT) for MDR, and DT &amp;gt; CS &amp;gt; MC for SE. The coupling effects among the variables were: MC × CS &amp;gt; MC × DT &amp;gt; DT × CS for MDR, and DT × CS &amp;gt; MC × DT &amp;gt; MC × CS for SE. System optimization with RSM provided the optimal combination as MC = 11.63%, DT = 26.87 min, and CS = 234.78 rpm. This combination resulted in a minimum MDR of 3.94% and a maximum SE of 97.17%. The optimized results were evaluated in production trials, revealing the mean values of MDR and SE as 4.18% and 93.87%, respectively. It is suggested that a suitable wetting-and-drying pretreatment can be a powerful means to enhance the shelling performance of small shellers. Keywords: Mechanical damage rate, Optimization, Peanut, Response surface method, Shelling efficiency.

Deep transcriptomic study reveals the role of cell wall biosynthesis and organization networks in the developing shell of peanut pod

BackgroundPeanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) belongs to an exceptional group of legume plants, wherein the flowers are produced aerially, but the pods develop under the ground. In such a unique environment, the pod’s outer shell plays a vital role as a barrier against mechanical damage and soilborne pathogens. Recent studies have reported the uniqueness and importance of gene expression patterns that accompany peanut pods’ biogenesis. These studies focused on biogenesis and pod development during the early stages, but the late developmental stages and disease resistance aspects still have gaps. To extend this information, we analyzed the transcriptome generated from four pod developmental stages of two genotypes, Hanoch (Virginia-type) and IGC53 (Peruvian-type), which differs significantly in their pod shell characteristics and pathogen resistance.ResultsThe transcriptome study revealed a significant reprogramming of the number and nature of differentially expressed (DE) genes during shell development. Generally, the numbers of DE genes were higher in IGC53 than in Hanoch, and the R5-R6 transition was the most dynamic in terms of transcriptomic changes. Genes related to cell wall biosynthesis, modification and transcription factors (TFs) dominated these changes therefore, we focused on their differential, temporal and spatial expression patterns. Analysis of the cellulose synthase superfamily identified specific Cellulose synthase (CesAs) and Cellulose synthase-like (Csl) genes and their coordinated interplay with other cell wall-related genes during the peanut shell development was demonstrated. TFs were also identified as being involved in the shell development process, and their pattern of expression differed in the two peanut genotypes. The shell component analysis showed that overall crude fiber, cellulose, lignin, hemicelluloses and dry matter increased with shell development, whereas K, N, protein, and ash content decreased. Genotype IGC53 contained a higher level of crude fiber, cellulose, NDF, ADF, K, ash, and dry matter percentage, while Hanoch had higher protein and nitrogen content.ConclusionsThe comparative transcriptome analysis identified differentially expressed genes, enriched processes, and molecular processes like cell wall biosynthesis/modifications, carbohydrate metabolic process, signaling, transcription factors, transport, stress, and lignin biosynthesis during the peanut shell development between two contrasting genotypes. TFs and other genes like chitinases were also enriched in peanut shells known for pathogen resistance against soilborne major pathogens causing pod wart disease and pod damages. This study will shed new light on the biological processes involved with underground pod development in an important legume crop.

Optimizing the drying parameters of a fixed bed with reversing ventilation for peanut using computer simulation

To obtain the optimal operation parameters of fixed-bed reversing ventilation drying of peanuts, a set of partial differential equations indicating the heat and mass transfer relationships between the peanut pods and air during drying was proposed. Then, a series of discretized models were established for simulation, and the time consumed, unevenness, and energy consumption for batch drying were calculated. The results showed that reversing ventilation and segmented drying was helpful to these issues for high drying ability. The optimal operation parameters were determined by uniform design experimentation of mathematical simulation. The result showed that when the moisture content (wet basis) was above 22%, a ventilation velocity of 0.46 m/s was optimal; when the moisture content was between 8% and 22%, a ventilation velocity of 0.20 m/s was optimal. Using the optimal parameters, the computer simulating result was compared with the experimental results. The correlation coefficients between the simulating and the experimental values for the temperature and moisture content were all above 0.98 and the quality of dried peanuts was close to that of natural sun-dried ones, which indicates that the optimization results of the drying parameters are highly reliable. Keywords: peanut, fix bed drying, reversing ventilation, simulation, optimization DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20211405.6354 Citation: Yan J C, Xie H X, Wei H, Wu H C, You Z Y. Optimizing the drying parameters of a fixed bed with reversing ventilation for peanut using computer simulation. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2021; 14(5): 255–266.

Nutrient uptake behavior of peanut under optimum fertilization management in China

AbstractBalanced fertilization is one of the most critical management factors for attaining high yields. Assessing pod yield and plant nutrient demand can provide theoretical guidance for fertilization management of high yielding peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.). Following this rationale, a large dataset was collected from field experiments (n = 313) across the main peanut planting regions of China for a period spanning from 2000 to 2019 to evaluate nutrient uptake behavior of peanut under current optimum fertilization management. Across the entire dataset, the results showed that average peanut pod yield and harvest index (HI) were 4.5 Mg ha−1 and .54, respectively. The average peanut nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) requirements were of 48, 7.1, and 21 kg Mg−1 pod yield, respectively. Across five ranges of pod yields (&lt;3, 3–4, 4–5, 5–6, and &gt;6 Mg ha−1), both nutrient uptake and HI increased with increasing pod yield. The N and K requirements (kg Mg−1) decreased with increasing pod yield, respectively, mainly due to reductions in pod N and K concentrations. The P requirement increased with yield, attributed to an increase in straw P concentration as P luxury uptake occurs under high pod yield.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: The design and experiment of peanut high-throughput automatic seed testing system based on machine learning

This article has been retracted from publication in the Taylor & Francis journal, Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B — Soil & Plant Science. Following publication, concerns were raised by multiple third-parties around the content of the special issue and the decision-making process. Following an investigation by the Taylor & Francis Publishing Ethics & Integrity team in full cooperation with the Editor-in-Chief, it was confirmed that this article included in Special Issue titled “ Envisage Computer Modelling and Statistics for Agriculture”, guest edited by Gunasekaran Manogaran was not peer-reviewed appropriately, in line with the Journal's peer review standards and policy. As the stringency of the peer review process is core to the integrity of the publication process, the Editor and Publisher have decided to retract all of the articles within the above-named Special Issue. The journal has not confirmed if the authors were aware of this compromised peer review process. The journal is committed to correcting the scientific record and will fully cooperate with any institutional investigations into this matter. The authors have been informed of this decision. We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines.

Effects of Boiling and Roasting Treatments on the Content of Total Phenolics and Flavonoids and the Antioxidant Activity of Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Pod Shells

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of boiling and roasting treatments on the phenolic and flavonoid contents and antioxidant activity of pod shells of two Sudanese peanut cultivars, Sodari and Ghabiash. The samples were subjected to a boiling process (1:5 w/v; 20 g/100 mL) at 100 °C for 45 min and a roasting treatment at 180 °C for 30 min. Results revealed that both cultivars are rich in phenolic compounds with high antioxidant activity in their shell. The boiling and dry roasting treatments significantly (p &lt; 0.05) enhanced the total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, and antioxidant activity of the peanut shell for both peanut cultivars. The shells of Ghabiash peanut cultivar exhibited higher bioactive properties than the shells of Sodari cultivar, in which these properties were highly improved by roasting and boiling treatments. In general, peanut shells can serve as an important underutilized by-product, particularly after roasting treatment, for potential applications in food formulations.

Conventional versus Nano Calcium Forms on Peanut Production under Sandy Soil Conditions

Abiotic stresses in sandy soil, which include saline water, saline soil, and lack of nutrients, affect the productivity and quality traits of peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L). Elemental calcium (Ca2+) is necessary for the proper development of peanut pods. This work aimed at comparing conventional Ca and nano-Ca form effects on peanut production and quality traits. Two randomized complete block field experiments were conducted in the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Treatments were control, gypsum plus calcium nitrate Ca(NO3)2, Ca(NO3)2, and chelated calcium, as well as 100, 75, 50, 25, and 12.5% of Ca(NO3)2 doses in a nano form. The results indicated that the treatment of gypsum plus conventional CaNO3 achieved the highest yield and best quality traits, followed by the Ca(NO3)2 and 100% nano Ca(NO3)2 treatments. The treatments of the control, gypsum, and 12.5% nano Ca(NO3)2 had the lowest effect on peanut performance. The conventional treatment of gypsum plus Ca(NO3)2 resulted in the greatest seed yield (1.6 ton ha−1), oil yield (700.3 kg ha−1), and protein yield (380.1 kg ha−1). Peanuts may benefit from Ca2+ better by using gypsum as the soil application and calcium nitrate as the foliar application to prevent disorders of Ca2+ deficiency under sandy soil conditions.

Various Uses of Natural Plants Extracts for Functionalization Textile Based Materials

The use of natural colors creates no problems for waste disposal and can provide naturally dyed fabrics. Dyes may be derived from natural resources since old times. And The revival of sustainable plant-based dyes now a day is becoming the demand for the global community in all fields. so in this review, we discuss the application of natural plant extracts such as peanut pod which used in the dyeing of cotton fabric and using olive tree leaves and its extraction to dye cotton fabric and dyeing wool using henna extraction with the use of chitosan pretreatment instead of mordanting and also extract new natural mordant from oak and uses it In the dyeing of wool fabric.

A novel method for peanut variety identification and classification by Improved VGG16

Crop variety identification is an essential link in seed detection, phenotype collection and scientific breeding. This paper takes peanut as an example to explore a new method for crop variety identification. Peanut is a crucial oil crop and cash crop. The yield and quality of different peanut varieties are different, so it is necessary to identify and classify different peanut varieties. The traditional image processing method of peanut variety identification needs to extract many features, which has defects such as intense subjectivity and insufficient generalization ability. Based on the deep learning technology, this paper improved the deep convolutional neural network VGG16 and applied the improved VGG16 to the identification and classification task of 12 varieties of peanuts. Firstly, the peanut pod images of 12 varieties obtained by the scanner were preprocessed with gray-scale, binarization, and ROI extraction to form a peanut pod data set with a total of 3365 images of 12 varieties. A series of improvements have been made to VGG16. Remove the F6 and F7 fully connected layers of VGG16. Add Conv6 and Global Average Pooling Layer. The three convolutional layers of conv5 have changed into Depth Concatenation and add the Batch Normalization(BN) layers to the model. Besides, fine-tuning is carried out based on the improved VGG16. We adjusted the location of the BN layers. Adjust the number of filters for Conv6. Finally, the improved VGG16 model's training test results were compared with the other classic models, AlexNet, VGG16, GoogLeNet, ResNet18, ResNet50, SqueezeNet, DenseNet201 and MobileNetv2 verify its superiority. The average accuracy of the improved VGG16 model on the peanut pods test set was 96.7%, which was 8.9% higher than that of VGG16, and 1.6–12.3% higher than that of other classical models. Besides, supplementary experiments were carried out to prove the robustness and generality of the improved VGG16. The improved VGG16 was applied to the identification and classification of seven corn grain varieties with the same method and an average accuracy of 90.1% was achieved. The experimental results show that the improved VGG16 proposed in this paper can identify and classify peanut pods of different varieties, proving the feasibility of a convolutional neural network in variety identification and classification. The model proposed in this experiment has a positive significance for exploring other Crop variety identification and classification.

Peanut yield, nutrient uptake and nutrient requirements in different regions of China

Nutrient balance is essential for attaining high yield and improving profits in agricultural farming systems, and crop nutrient uptake ratio and stoichiometry can indicate crop nutrient limitations in the field. We collected a large amount of field data to study the variations in yield, nutrient uptake and nutrient stoichiometry of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) in Southeast China (SEC), North-central China (NCC), and Northeast China (NEC), during 1993 to 2018. Peanut pod yield gradually increased from 1993 to 2018, with average yields of 4 148, 5 138, and 4 635 kg ha−1 in SEC, NCC, and NEC, respectively. The nitrogen (N) internal efficiency (NIE, yield to N uptake ratio) was similar among the three regions, but phosphorus (P) IE (PIE, yield to P uptake ratio) changed from low to high among regions: NCC<SEC<NEC, while potassium (K) IE (KIE, yield to K uptake ratio) portrayed a different pattern of SEC<NCC<NEC. Based on the nutrient IE, to produce 1 Mg of pod yield, the average N, P, and K requirements of the above-ground parts of peanut were roughly 47.2, 5.1, and 25.5 kg in SEC, 44.8, 5.7, and 20.6 kg in NCC, and 44.6, 4.4, and 14.7 kg in NEC, respectively. The N/P ratio changed in the sequence NCC<SEC<NEC, and the N/K ratio was similar in NEC and NCC, but lower in SEC. The N harvest index (HI) and KHI declined with increasing nutrient uptake across all regions under high nutrient uptake. The low PIE and N/P ratios in NCC could be explained by the high P accumulation in stover, and high KIE and N/K ratios in NEC may be attributed to the low soil K supply. The frontier analysis approach provides a practical framework and allows documentation of a decline in nutrient HI as nutrient uptake increases. Lastly, this study reveals the limitation and surplus of nutrients of peanut in different regions of China.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi alleviate salinity stress in peanut: Evidence from pot‐grown and field experiments

AbstractArbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) species are essential for sustainable agriculture of legume crops; however, the AMF response in legume crops, especially from the perspective of physiological and molecular mechanisms under salinity conditions, is largely unknown. In this study, peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) seeds were inoculated with AMF to investigate its salinity stress alleviation effects using the pot‐grown and 2‐year field experiments. Seeds from two peanut cultivars (HY22 and HY25) were inoculated with AMF Rhizophagus irregularis SA and Funneliformis mosseae BEG95 (1:1), and the physiological and transcriptional responses were compared between the AMF‐inoculated and non‐inoculated peanut plants. Under the salinity stress, compared with the control samples, the AMF‐inoculated plants showed higher net photosynthetic rate, leaf relative water content (RWC), plant height, osmolyte accumulation, but lower leaf relative electrolyte conductivity (REC). Also, the malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration was reduced while the antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), guaiacol peroxidase (G‐POD), catalase (CAT), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) were activated. Furthermore, transcriptome data revealed that AMF potentially alleviates salt stress by regulating redox processes, cell wall assembly, cell growth, and other similar processes. In the 2‐year field experiment, AMF‐inoculated peanut seeds of HY22 and HY25 were cultivated in both non‐saline and saline soils. Under salinity conditions, AMF inoculation induced the total protein concentration by 11.11 and 2.32% in kernels and further increased the peanut pod yield by 21.83 and 21.89% in HY22 and HY25, respectively. In non‐saline soil too, AMF increased the peanut pod yield by 11.47 and 23.98% in HY22 and HY25, respectively. Taken together, these results strongly demonstrate that the combination of AMF Rhizophagus irregularis SA and Funneliformis mosseae BEG95 (1:1) can alleviate salinity stress in peanuts by improving plant growth, photosystem, and antioxidant system. Additionally, it increases the peanut pod yield under both normal and salinity conditions.