Determining the Impact of Planting Pattern on Peanut Water-Use Efficiency Using the Eddy-Covariance Method.

Peanut is a major crop in the Southeast with Georgia producing about 49.3% of all U.S. peanut over the last 5 years. Due to the rapid urban development in Georgia, the demand of water has escalated while water scarcity and impact of climate change further compounds the problem. Single-row and twin-row planting patterns are mainly used in peanut production. There are documented advantages and disadvantages for each of these row patterns, but little information is available comparing water-use efficiency between single- and twin-row peanut production. The present study discusses preliminary results obtained using the eddy-covariance method for determining water use efficiency. These preliminary results address differences in peanut evapotranspiration, carbon assimilation, and water-use efficiency at the field scale and discusses the likely cause of the difference.