Cultural Practices Adoption of suitable cultural practices is essential for obtaining high yield of quality pods of groundnut. Preparing the soil The object of preparing the soil is to provide a good seed bed, control weeds, facilitate infiltration of rainfall into soil without any runoff and expose insect pupae and fungi to hot sun to kill them. A seedbed with good tilth is essential for the best germination of seed and establishment of optimum plant population, which is of utmost importance to secure high yields of groundnut. It is adequate to secure good tilth to a depth of 15 to 20 cm. Soil is prepared by ploughing several times and then harrowing to obtain a clean seedbed and good tilth. In certain areas, ploughing the soil is done for the kharif crop after every rain, starting from the harvest of the previous crop. In other areas, ploughing the soil is done with the receipt of rains in May. The type of preparing the soil depends on the soil type and rainfall. Ploughing atleast twice is the minimum, followed by harrowing at intervals depending on the receipt of rains and the conditions of the soil. Soil has to be thoroughly and completely prepared before planting. Groundnut requires a loose and friable soil for the pegs to penetrate easily and also prevent loss of nuts during harvesting. Preparing the soil, after the harvest of previous rice crop, to obtain a good seed bed for the rabi and summer crops is a problem in command areas of Projects. The soil does not dry up thoroughly and ploughing is done only once or twice even when the soil is at high moisture content leading to a very cloudy seed bed, poor germination of seed and low plant population. Preparation of a good seedbed is also a problem in saline soils as clods are formed when this soil is ploughed after the harvest of the previous rice crop.

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