Groundnut (Arachis Hypogaea) is an important global food and oil crop that underpins agriculture-dependent livelihood strategies meeting food, nutrition, and income security. In fact, it is one of the most important cash crops grown for food and oil production. As a result, scientists are focused on effective monitoring of plant growth and development of groundnut, particularly, in extreme environmental conditions to get peanut genotypes, which are better responsive to the stress. Indeed, we are excited that Petiole Pro helps to get accurate measurements about groundnut plants. Hence, this article will reveal how Petiole Pro supports the research of effect of plant growth regulators on germination and growth characteristics of peanut.

Peanuts Among the Top World Crops

Groundnut is one of the world’s staple oil and industrial crops. Tropical and subtropical regions of the world are the most preferable to cultivate groundnuts. Also, it is required to grow them on sandy soils. Therefore, achieving high groundnut yields plays a very important role in the improvement of human nutrition. But there is a great imbalance in groundnut productivity between countries and regions.

Yields of groundnut may vary from about 400 kg to several tonnes per hectare, depending on the production system, but on the average, the global yield is around 2500–2700 kg per hectare. For example, these numbers are accurate for Tissa groundnuts in Sri Lanka but in Zimbabwe it is up to 2800 kg per hectare with Ilanda variety of peanut. In Malawi the average yield is 1500 kg per hectare but in Zambia it is low, between 0.5 and 0.7 metric tonnes per hectare. In other words, Zambian farmers have just 500 – 700 kg per hectare.

Below you can see the general information about soil requirements, required precipitation and temperature, planting season, maturity duration, major diseases, and pests affecting groundnuts. High yield of peanuts requires strong practice of Plant Growth and Development of Groundnut Groundnuts are a popular source of food throughout the world, consumed either as peanut butter or crushed and used for groundnut oil or simply consumed as a confectionary snack

Overview of the Requirements for Plant Growth and Development of Groundnut

Soil requirements Well-drained sandy loam or sandy clay loam soil with a pH of 6.5–7.0 Climate Rainfall of 450–1250 mm per annum. Temperature of 27–30°C Planting season Immediately after the onset of the rainy season Maturity duration 140–150 days Major diseases Rosette disease, early leaf spots, late leaf spots, rusts, aflatoxins Main pests Aphids, leaf miners, thrips, termites, beetle

Bio-stimulators as a trigger of good plant growth and development of groundnut

Bio-stimulators refer to a sub-group of bio-regulators. They exhibit an important effect on the regulation of life processes within plants in various ways. In fact, bio-stimulators have natural origin and are extracts of plants, animals or microbes.

Bio-stimulators control and accelerate life processes. They increase the resistance of plants to stress conditions and stimulate root and leaf development. Due to the way they work, they are safe for humans, animals and the environment. Bio-stimulants can boost Plant Growth and Development of GroundnutBio-stimulants may increase the resistance of groundnut plants to stress conditions and stimulate root and leaf development

Compared to bio-stimulators, plant growth regulators are preparations consisting of phytohormones or other plant substances to change the natural plant growth and development of groundnut or any other crop. For example, plant regulators may include auxins, gibberellins, cytokinins, abscisic acid, ethylene or other specific substances of plant origin such as: phenols, polyamines, salicylic acid. Equally important to highlight that they participate in physiological and biochemical processes of plants. As a result, change the natural way how it goes.

There is also a separate group of plant resistance stimulators. In fact, they are known as bio-stimulators or phyto-stimulators. However, the main characteristics of this plant growth regulators are most often their synthetic origin. In fact, they do not take part directly in the regulation of physiological processes. But similarly, by affecting the metabolism, they support and stimulate life processes. The compound action of phyto-hormones, bio-regulators and other groups of active substances, ultimately affects the stimulation of plant growth and their productivity. Hence, a term “bio-stimulators” is often used for this entire group, especially in the colloquial sense.

Basics about PQQ

Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) is one of bio-stimulators. Methoxatin is the second name of these bio-stimulators. Only some bacteria synthesizes it, but it has an impact on many organisms, including plant growth-promoting bacteria. For example, PQQ molecule can modify some potentially advantageous microbial processes such as gene expression and metabolism.

Generally, the role of PQQ molecules has been studied extensively in relation to animal and human functional aspects. However, there are comparatively few citations available in relation to its functional aspects in plant growth and development of groundnut or any other crop. PQQ is an antioxidant and a redox cofactor, found in plant and animal tissues in the nanogram-to-gram range even though plants and animals do not produce PQQ themselves. In short, PQQ is water soluble and heat stable. Additionally, it has the ability to carry out redox cycles, which are a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of atoms are changed.

How does PQQ impact on plant growth and development of groundnut?

A group of Indian crop scientists conducted experiments to assess the effect of PQQ on germination and growth characteristics of groundnut. For this purpose, they selected the venue for this work at the Government of India’s Department for Scientific & Industrial Research Facility.

During the research, crop scientists considered the PQQ molecule in more details, in particular, as an antioxidant and a redox cofactor. The scientific foundation of the experiment was based on the suggestion that the natural and nature identical molecules that improve the seed germination and plant growth are helpful in designing novel organic inputs. However, assessment the usability of PQQ to design such formulations requires specific concentrations. Hence, the researchers studied the effect of various concentrations of synthetic PQQ on plant growth and development of groundnut. In particular, they focused on the seed germination and growth characteristics of peanuts.

The results of the experiment are indeed insightful. The crop scientists found that in groundnut, PQQ treatment shows significant difference in root development. Particularly, the seedlings arising from 1.00 mM PQQ treated seeds showed triple the fresh weight of roots as compared to the controls. Petiole Pro can monitor Plant Growth and Development of GroundnutIt’s easy to see the difference in roots of the groundnut seedlings arising from 1.00 mM PQQ treated seeds as compared to the controls

In the same way, there are improvements in seed germination and other growth characteristics in the PQQ treated seeds. PQQ is a promising molecule in designing novel formulations for plant growth and development.

Impact of PQQ on leaf area of groundnut

During the experiment, there was a need to monitor plant growth and development of groundnut in the same way as other plant characteristics. Hence, crop scientists used Petiole for these purposes. In particular, they counted and recorded the average number of leaves and average area of leaves. Plant Average Number of Leaves Average Area of Leaves in sq cm Control 33.15±0.02 46.21±7.98 0.5 mM PQQ 33.18±0.01 71.77±9.10 1 mM PQQ 36.86±0.02 57.73±4.31 PQQ impact on Plant Growth and Development of GroundnutPQQ treatment increases the growth of leaf area in groundnut. To measure leaf area meter, the crop scientists use Petiole Pro

References and Additional Resources on the Topic

Finally if you would like to get more updated information about the cultivation of groundnut, please, check the following articles

• Alexender, Ankita & Singh, Vijay & Mishra, Avinash. (2020). Halotolerant PGPR Stenotrophomonas maltophilia BJ01 Induces Salt Tolerance by Modulating Physiology and Biochemical Activities of Arachis hypogaea. Frontiers in Microbiology. 11. 568289. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.568289
• Bosamia TC, Dodia SM, Mishra GP, Ahmad S, Joshi B, et al. (2020) Unraveling the mechanisms of resistance to Sclerotium rolfsii in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) using comparative RNA-Seq analysis of resistant and susceptible genotypes. PLOS ONE 15(8): e0236823. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236823
• Gundaraniya, Srutiben & Ambalam, Padma & Tomar, Rukam Singh. (2020). Metabolomic Profiling of Drought-Tolerant and Susceptible Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Genotypes in Response to Drought Stress. ACS Omega. 5. 31209-31219. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.0c04601