Environment and Management Factors Affect Biomass Partitioning of Rhizoma Peanut during Establishment.

Rhizoma peanut (RP; Arachis glabrata) is vegetatively propagated using rhizomes and is considered slow to establish in monoculture or when mixed with grasses. Environment and management factors likely influence RP physiological responses during establishment, including partitioning of reserve energy to different plant parts during shoot emergence and partitioning of photo-assimilate during early growth. These responses in turn affect RP shoot emergence, growth rate, and spread. Temperature and soil moisture after planting as well as genotype, propagule management, weed control, and other management factors are likely important. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the influence of these factors on RP growth patterns and biomass partitioning during establishment. The objective of this study was to compare RP cultivars differing in growth habit and planted in two seasons in terms of biomass partitioning and growth characteristics during the year of planting. A field experiment was conducted in 2016 at Citra, FL. Treatments were two planting dates (main-plot) and four RP entries (sub-plot) in a split-plot arrangement of a randomized complete block design with four replications. The two planting dates were spring and summer, and the four entries were the germplasm Ecoturf and the cultivars ‘Florigraze’, ‘UF Peace’, and ‘UF Tito’. Planting date influenced responses of the four entries during their first growing season. In particular, sprout emergence after 12 wk of planting (87±4.9 vs. 36±2.6 m^-2) and root-rhizome mass at the end of the growing season (292±30.7 vs. 119±14.1 g m^-2) were greater for summer than spring planting, respectively. Two upright cultivars (Peace and Tito) responded very well to summer planting with greater root-rhizome mass (431±29.1 and 378±6.3 g m^-2, respectively), which should enhance year-after-planting spring growth and reduce length of the establishment period. This study demonstrates advantages of summer planting, especially for the more upright-growing cultivars Tito and Peace.