Peanut Management Systems for Texas

Twin row planting patterns are extremely popular in parts of the southeastern United States. One reason for this change from a single row planting pattern is the effect the practice has on Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV). Overall, the pressure of TSWV experienced in west Texas is very low; however, several producers utilize twin row planning patterns in the region. During the 2014 growing season, yields of the newly released 'Running-Spanish' cultivars, such as ACI 236 and ACI 240 were well below that of other cultivars. It was thought this might have been due to the lack of canopy closure related to the growth habit of these cultivars. The objective this work was to compare the field performance of these and/or other cultivars (as well as market­types) to single ( 4 seed per foot of row) and twin (2 seed per foot of each planted row) patterns. Planting was delayed because of heavy rain that fell early in the growing season. There were no differences between planting patterns and only marginal differences were observed between cultivars (Table 1). As in other trials, yields were higher than Georgia 09B than ACI 243 and AT9899; however, yields for ACI 240 were intermediate. Similar results were observed at two additional locations (data not shown). These results support previous findings that the use of twin row planting patterns does not improve yield in West Texas as in other states.