How to Choose Peanut Seeds? A Detailed Guide to Seed Selection and Raising Seedlings

Peanut is one of the most important oil crops in our country, with a very wide planting area. Of course, besides being an oil crop, peanuts also have very good prospects in the processing market. So how do you select seeds when planting peanuts? What seedling-raising methods are there?

1. How to select peanut seeds?

1. Dihao No. 6

Common type. For food, fresh eating, and oil use. A small-seed variety with a growth period of 123.8 days, upright plant type, main stem height 39.5 cm, lateral branch length 43.9 cm, total branches 8.4, fruiting branches 7.7. Leaves are long elliptic and dark green.

2. Pukehua No. 3

For food, fresh eating, oil use, and both oil and food use. A sparse-branching, upright, early-maturing common-type peanut variety with a summer-sowing growth period of 116 days.

3. Qihua No. 1

Common type, for food, fresh eating, oil use, and both oil and food use. Spring-sowing growth period is about 130 days, pods are common type and medium in size, seeds are elliptic, seed coat pink and light in color, inner seed coat white, pod and seed size uniform.

4. Fuhua 27

Pearl bean type. For food and fresh eating. A continuously flowering, upright, small-seed peanut with an average growth period of 124 days, main stem height 37.6 cm, compact plant type, well-developed plant system, and concentrated fruiting.

2. What are the peanut seedling-raising methods?

1. Sun the seeds before sowing

After a relatively long period of storage, peanut seeds easily absorb moisture from the air, increasing the seeds' moisture content, so before shelling, sun the seeds for 2~3 days as appropriate. When sunning the seeds, be especially careful not to place them on cement yards or stone slabs, to avoid excessive temperature that could damage the seeds' germination ability.

2. Shelling and seed grading

(1) The closer the shelling time is to the sowing date, the better; ideally shell and sow as you go.

(2) Seed grading methods

① Shell by hand and grade by seed weight at the same time. 

② Screening and grading: the seed-selection sieve is a rectangular wooden frame with No. 8 aluminum wire or bamboo strips nailed to the bottom; the sieve holes are rectangular, with gaps generally of 5 mm and 7 mm. First sieve once with the 7 mm sieve holes to select Grade 2 seeds; those that pass through are Grade 3 seeds (generally not used as seed). Keep Grade 1 and Grade 2 seeds for planting, and at the same time pick out broken seeds, insect- or disease-affected seeds, and seeds showing mold characteristics and discard them.

3. Germination test

Carry it out before shelling. The method is to take representative seeds, mix them evenly, and then conduct a germination test. Each sample can use 50 or 100 seeds, repeated 3~4 times. Peanuts used as seed must have a germination vigor above 80% and a germination rate above 95%. Only then can they be used for sowing.

4. Seed soaking and sprouting

This can achieve full stands, fast emergence, and uniform emergence. There are two methods of soaking and sprouting: first, soak the seeds in warm water at 30~40°C, and after they absorb enough water, remove them and place them in a 25~30°C environment to sprout; second, first place dry seeds in layers with wet sand at a ratio of 1:5 so they absorb water and germinate. Both methods require attention to heat preservation, moisture retention, and proper ventilation. After most of the seeds have germinated, remove those that have sprouted and sow them.

5. Coating

Coat with a suspension seed coating agent at 0.3% of the seed amount.

6. Seed dressing

There are two types: fertilizer seed dressing and pesticide seed dressing. For fertilizer seed dressing, use 1 kg of biological phosphorus and potassium fertilizer per 667 sq m of seed amount for dressing. For pesticide seed dressing, see the pest and disease control section.

If you also want to plant peanuts on a large scale, be sure to select the seeds well, and it is best to choose according to the local climate and environment.

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