PHYSIOLOGY AND MINERAL NUTRITION 



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A high percentage of the flowers produce pegs. Shibuya reported that 

 about 70 percent of the flowers of bunch peanuts and 75 percent 

 of those of the runner peanuts produced pegs, while with the Dixie 

 Runner variety 58.7 percent of the flowers produced pegs when plants 

 were grown in sand culture (10). 



Shibuya reported that 23 percent of the flowers of the bunch type and 

 9 percent of flowers of the runner type produced fruit (mature and im- 

 mature) with an average of 45 fruits per plant for each type. Results at 

 the Florida Experiment Station (10) show that 9.2 percent of total 

 flowers resulted in fruit formation, while 24.4 percent of the pegs which 

 entered the fruiting medium produced fruit when plants were grown in 

 sand culture. In a similar experiment 17 percent of the gynophores of 

 runner peanuts grown in a complete nutrient solution (37) produced 

 fruit. Individual plants varied considerably, but the percentage of flowers 

 effective in producing fruits was small. The nutrient supply of the plant 

 (10, 37) influenced the effectiveness of the flowers and pegs in the pro- 

 duction of fruits (figures 2, 3). Calcium, particularly when deficient in 

 the pegging zone, gave a low percentage of fruit (figure 4) . 



Courtesy Florida Agricultural Experiment Station 



Figure 2. — Dixie Runner peanut plant which received a complete nutrient solution in 

 both the rooting and fruiting zone. 



