Cultivar and Soil Amendment Effects on Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Grown with Organic Practices in Florida

Commodities

• Agronomic: peanuts

Practices

• Crop Production: crop improvement and selection
• Production Systems: organic agriculture

With the negative impacts of conventional agriculture becoming more apparent, organic crop production has emerged as a possible solution to these issues. Organic agriculture avoids the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers and instead opts for composts, manures, crop rotations, intercropping, biological nitrogen fixation, and more to sustain the cropping system. Currently, peanut production in the southeastern United States is under conventional practices, due to concerns in organic production over loss in yields from nutrient source, weeds, pests, and diseases. This research project aims to study the feasibility of organic production of peanuts in Florida by testing five major cultivars against three soil amendment treatments to see not only the overall success of the crop, but also which amendment and cultivar can provide the best results for producers. The success will be measured based on multiple facets of the agricultural system, including plant biomass growth, nodulation, peanut yield and nutrients, soil nutrients, microbial diversity, and nematodes to gain a well-rounded view of organic production of peanuts and their benefits or drawbacks in Florida. If successful, the results can be used for developing extension materials to make organic peanuts more accessible for Florida growers. Organic peanut production may be seen as a more realistic feat than what was considered before by Floridian producers and thus can contribute greatly to the expansion of sustainable agriculture in the state.

In organic peanut production, farmers are concerned about weed control, yield, and more, which causes organic peanut production to be rare in the Southeastern United States. The ultimate goals of our research are to evaluate the feasibility of organic peanut production in Florida and to distribute the knowledge gained from the study to farmers in Florida and Southeastern United States. To promote organic peanut production, the specific objectives of this proposal are to:

1) apply organic management on peanut production of five commonly used peanut cultivars with three different organic amendment treatments,

2) evaluate the plant biomass growth, nodulation, peanut yield and nutrients, soil nutrients, soil microbial diversity, and soil nematodes impacted by different organic amendments and cultivars, and

3) disseminate the knowledge attained from above objectives to farmers interested in organic practices on peanut production.

            By reaching these objectives and disseminating the results, this project can contribute to knowledge on organic peanut production in Florida. As mentioned before, organic peanuts are nearly nonexistent in Florida, as is research regarding them. Most of the research is also on weed control, not nutrients or multiple aspects of crop production. This project aims to fill that gap by measuring data on a wide range of qualities important to farmers, such as soil nutrition, nematodes, microbial diversity, yield, and nitrogen fixation through nodule numbers (objective 2). This will provide a broad understanding of the feasibility of organic peanut production, provide insight into the practice in Florida, and hopefully spark interest in farmers to attempt organic peanut production. With the success of these objectives comes success for the sustainability of Florida farms.