Fall-raised Beds for Improved Digging Efficiency of Strip-till Peanut.

Rising costs have inspired some producers to consider reduced tillage for minimizing peanut inputs.  Strip-till is the form of reduced tillage most popular in peanut, but on some Georgia soils growers experience yield suppression due to increased difficulty at digging.  The objective was to determine if utilizing fall-raised beds could improve digging efficiency and yield of peanut in strip-till production.  Trials were established in 2007 at the University of Georgia’s Coastal Plain Experiment Station at Tifton on a Tifton loamy sand (Fine-loamy, kaolinitic, thermic Plinthic Kandiudults) and Southwest Georgia Research and Education Center near Plains on a Greenville sandy loam (Fine, kaolinitic, thermic Rhodic Kandiudults).  Three methods of preparing beds (flat, raised, and rip and bed) were evaluated, each with and without a wheat cover.  At Plains, plots were arranged in a 3 x 2 x 2 factorial consisting of the three bed types, with and without a wheat cover, and single and twin row spacing.  At Tifton, plots were arranged on a 3 x 2 factorial with the row spacing factor omitted.  The cultivar, Georgia-02C, was planted May 14 at Tifton and May 15 at Plains.  There were significant main effects of bed type, p < 0.05, at both locations on peanut stand counts and peanut dimensions.  At Plains, there was a significant main effect of bed type, p < 0.01, on digging losses.  Flat beds, raised beds, and rip and beds exhibited losses of 1755, 1155, and 603 kg ha^-1 respectively.  Yield was significantly higher, p < 0.05, for rip and bed with 5246 kg ha^-1 compared to 4755 and 4637 kg ha^-1 for raised bed and flat bed respectively.  At Tifton, no differences for losses or yield were detected.  Results suggest fall-bedding is more beneficial on finer textured soils at Plains compared to coarser soils at Tifton.