Introduction Scientific Name : Arachis hypogaea Linn Family : Leguminoseae Sub- family: Papilionaceae Groundnut in Indian Languages Groundnut is one of the most important oil seed crop of India. Groundnut in Indian local name is as follows . Local names Bengali:Cheenabadam Oriya:Chinabadam Hindi:Mungfall Assamese:Chinabadam Punjabi:Mungfali Gujarati:Bhoising Marathi:Phuimug Tamil:Nilakadalia Telugu: Nelashanaga / Verushanaga Among oil seed crops groundnut has first place in India due to various reasons as follows: It can withstand drought and is suitable for dryland farming. It is a soil erosion resistant crop and being a legume crop, it can fix the atmospheric Nitrogen with the help of nodule bacteria and thereby improves the soil fertility. It provides a good green manure for the succeeding crop. Its shell, skin, hulm and hay are all good as fooder. Groundnut cake is chief oil cake feed to animals and it is also used as manures. The plant stalks are fed to cattle in the form of green , dried and silage. It is an important cash crop and is useful as a rotational crop. Moreover, groundnut is an excellent money corner and a chief source of protein.

Top

Origin And Spread The genus Arachis L. Comprises a large and diverse group of diploid and tetraloid taxa native only to south America. There Arachis ranges geographically from the equator near the mouth of the amazon to 34oS latitude on the northern bank of the Rio de la plata in Uruguay, and extends westward from the Atlantic to the parana and the eastern foot hills of the andes (35-66o W longitude). The northern boundary is usually marked by the southern extent of the amazonian rainforest, except where Arachis spp, may occur where the forest is penetrated by the more open vegetation of the cerrado breaks. Biological dispersal mechanisms are very poor, with the annual dispersion rate limited to a radius varying from several centimetres to a few metres. Although 50-70 species may exist in the genus, only 23 species are cultivated. All are indigenous to the area east of the Andes and south of the amazon rainforest. Origin Of Arachis hypogea Linnaeus (1753) described the first Arachis in his species plantarium. Five species, each from different sections, are now cultivated. A.Hypogaea L; the principal cultigen, are grown for their edible seeds and were improved by the indigenous peoples of south america. Recently, forms of A.glabrata Benth., A.repens. The low genetic affinity of these five species shows their independent domestication. This is especially interesting for A.hypogaea and A.villosulicarpa, both cultivated for their qualities for human nutrition: A.hypogaea is widely spread throughout the world but A.villosulicarpa has limited use only by the Indians. A.hypogaea is the only domesticant, whereas the others are cultivated, i.e., they can survive in the wild.) Arachis hypogaea (2n=4x=40) is a member of section Arachis . Spread A small-podded genotype with a spreading habit of growth was the earliest form successfully introduced into commerce in the south-eastern United States. It is a long-season groundnut, possibly from Africa.The Guarani region of north-eastern Argentina, Paraguay and southe western Brazil is the centre of variation for the pish type (subsp. Fastigiata var. vulgaris) and it was distributed from this region. The pish who cultivated the crop both for cooking oil and for use in preparing a chocolate covered confection, extracted the first oil in Europe . The pish type is a small two-seeded form adapted to adverse environmental conditions;Groundnut is cropped on exposed riverine sandbars during the low-water season. A selected portion of the harvest is replanted in upland gardens as a seed crop. The cropping system exerts strong selection pressure for the subspecific valencia characters of earliness, sequential flowering, loss of seed dormancy, and strong pegs. Bees are frequent visitors to the flowers. Such data, with the archaeological and historical evidence, and the diversity of valencia landraces, further support the notion that ancient people living in this region also developed that valencia botanical type.

Top

Area and Production India, which adopted groundnut as an agricultural crop by the late 19th century, gradually became the major groundnut producing country in the world within a span of 5-6 decades. India shares 22 per cent of the world production (area 8.0 m.ha, production 7.3 m.tonnes). In Andhra Pradesh, it is an important and major oilseed crop, covering an area of 1.69million ha. with a production of 1.25 million tonnes. Among the various states, it ranks second in area and third in production. Out of which 80% of the area is covered under rainfed crop and the remaining is under irrigated conditions. In Andhra Pradesh, majority of the groundnut area (80%) is covered in Ananthapur, Kurnool, Chittoor, Cuddapah and Mahaboob Nagar Districts with a Production of 6.71lakh tonnes (64%). Hence this agro-climatic zone is considered as a main zone for oilseed production especially groundnut. The crop is also popular in vizianagaram, Warangal, Srikakulam and Nalgonda districts with Considerable area. Area, production and yield of groundnut crop in different countries (2003-04) Country Area in Ha Production (Mt) Yield (Kg/Ha) Argentina 167,500 418,571 2498 Benin 160,000 130,000 812 Brazil 98,100 221,203 2254 Burkina Faso 345,000 321,000 930 Cameroon 205,000 200,000 975 Central African Republic 120,000 133,600 1113 Chad 480,000 450,000 937 China 4,725,000 14,385,000 3044 Congo, Dem Republic of 458,000 363,850 794 Ghana 431,667 389,649 902 Guinea 210,000 300,000 1428 India 6,720,000 6,500,000 967 Indonesia 702,163 1,450,000 2065 Malawi 210,000 161,162 767 Mali 210,000 156,000 742 Mozambique 293,000 110,000 375 Myanmar 580,000 715,000 1232 Niger 260,000 209,369 805 Nigeria 2,880,000 2,937,000 1019 Sudan 1,900,000 1,200,000 631 Uganda 221,000 155,000 701 USA 564,140 1,933,070 3426 Viet Nam 258,700 451,100 1743 Zimbabwe 260,000 125,000 480 World 24,607,001 35,723,285 1451 Source : FAO CITATION State-wise Area, Production and Productivity of Groundnut in India (2001-2002) State Area (Million ha) Production (Million t) Productiity (kg/ha) Andhra Pradesh 1.69 1.25 739 Karnataka 0.86 0.60 702 Maharashtra 0.43 0.49 1147 Orissa 0.06 0.06 985 Tamil Nadu 0.77 1.33 1724 Madhya Pradesh 0.24 0.26 1099 Rajasthan 0.24 0.30 1226 Uttar Pradesh 0.11 0.10 853 Gujarat 1.92 2.71 1412 Others 0.07 0.11 @ ALL INDIA 6.40 7.21 1125 Source : DACP Districtwise Area, Production & Productivity of Groundnut in Andhra Pradesh 2003-04 District Area in Hectares Production in tonnes Yield in Kg/ha 1 2 3 4 Srikakulam 33509 33967 1014 Vizianagaram 47064 41940 891 Visakhapatnam 10845 13587 1253 East Godavari 705 1097 1556 West Godavari 3107 5790 1864 Krishna 7593 12071 1590 Guntur 8613 11432 1327 Prakasham 7207 12441 1726 Nellore 14129 27775 1966 Chittoor 159612 143775 901 Cuddapah 129396 55141 426 Ananthapur 685995 207681 303 Kurnool 189459 195810 1034 Mahaboobnagar 75370 68629 911 Rangareddy 5897 7259 1231 Medak 4853 6931 1428 Nizamabad 2565 5903 2301 Adilabad 3251 4648 1430 Karimnagar 16788 31756 1892 Warangal 45055 58273 1293 Khammam 6717 8219 1224 Nalgonda 35529 31688 892 State 1493259 985813 660 Source : Season and Crop report Tamilnadu Area, Productivity and Production of Groundnut in Andhra Pradesh Year Area in lakh hectares Productivity in Kgs/hect Production in lakh tonnes Kharif Rabi Total Kharif Rabi Total Kharif Rabi Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1999-2000 15.21 2.74 17.95 448 1488 607 6.81 4.08 10.89 2000-2001 16.01 2.73 18.74 1061 1636 1145 16.97 4.46 21.43 2001-2002 14.39 2.52 16.91 568 1714 739 8.18 4.32 12.50 2002-2003 12.71 1.99 14.70 427 1399 559 5.42 2.78 8.20 2003-2004 12.58 2.35 14.93 482 1614 660 6.07 3.79 9.86 Average of prec eding 5 years (1998-99 to 2002-2003) 14.93 2.71 17.64 693 1575 826 10.62 4.30 14.92

Top

Composition of groundnut seed (in percentage) Constituents Testa Embryonal axis Kernels Water 9 - 3.9-13.2 Protein 11-13.4 26.5-27.8 21.4-36.4 Fat 0.5-1.9 39.4-43 35.8-54.2 Total Carbohydrate 48.3-52.2 - 6-24.9 Reducing sugar 1-1.2 7.9 0.1-0.4 Sucrose - 12 1.9-6.4 Starch - - 0.9-5.3 Crude fibre 21.4-34.9 1.6-1.8 1.6-1.9 Ash 1.9-4.6 1.9-3.2 1.8-3.1 Nutritional values of groundnut seed Nutrients Amount in 100gm of Seed Daily Reqt per Adult Raw Fried Calories 564 582 2400 Protein(gm) 26 26 55 Fat(gm) 47.5 48.7 51 Calcium(mg) 69 72 400-500 Iron(mg) 2.1 2.2 20 Thiamine(B1)(mg) 1.1 0.3 1.2 Niacin(mg) 17.2 17.2 16

Top