Introduction

Groundnut can be cultivated as a floor crop in coconut gardens, as an intercrop with tapioca and as a catch crop after second crop paddy with irrigation. The crop is grown best in sandy loam and loam soils.

Varieties

Season

Rainfed : May-June to Sept-Oct.
Irrigated : Jan- May

Planting materials

Seeds are treated with rhizobium culture and then planted.

Method of planting

Pure crop : 100kg kernels/ha
Inter crop in coconut : 80 kg kernels/ha
Inter crop in tapioca : 40-50 kg kernels/ha.

Plough the field 3-4 times into a fine tilth. Sow the seeds by dibbling in ploughed furrows at a spacing of 15 x 15cm.

Manuring

Cattle manure or compost: 2t/ha
Lime: 1-1.5 t/ha
Fertilizers N:P₂O₅: K₂O – 10:75:75 kg/ha

Apply entire quantity of cattle manure or compost and recommended quantity of fertilizers as basal dressing and incorporate well into the soil. Apply lime at the time of flowering of the crop and mix with the soil by light hoeing or raking.

Weed management

Weed the crop 10-15 days after germination of seed by light hoeing. Give another light hoeing or raking at the time of application of the lime. Do not disturb the soil after 45 days of sowing.

Harvesting

The crop will be ready for harvest when the leaves start yellowing and begin to dry up. Development of brown colour inside the pods also indicates maturity of the crop.

Value added products

GROUNDNUT PRODUCTS

GROUNDNUT MILK

Steps involved:

1. Good quality peanut kernels are cleaned and roasted lightly and the red skin is removed.

2. The germ is separated by sieving and the spoilt seeds by handpicking.

3. The cleaned kernels are ground to a smooth paste. The paste is mixed with 7 times the weight of water in a blender. Calcium hydroxide solution is added till the pH of the milk is adjusted to 6.8. A mixture of disodium phosphate and acid potassium phosphate having pH 7.0 is added to stabilise the milk.

4. The milk is filtered through a fine cloth and fortified with vitamins A, D, B2, folic acid. B12 and minerals, calcium and iron. Cane sugar is added at 7% level.

5. The milk is homogenized, steamed, bottled and kept in a refrigerator till distributed.

6. The milk obtained from soybean or peanut can be used as a supplement to the diets of pre-school and school children. Or it can be used as substitute for ordinary milk, if allergic condition develops.

PEANUTBUTTER

Good quality peanut kernel is cleaned and it is roasted to a moderate degree till a pleasant aroma develops.
Red skin is removed by passing the roasted kernel through a blanching machine. The germs are separated by sieving and the spoilt kernels by hand picking.
The kernels are ground in a grinding machine to medium grind. Hydrogenated fat containing vitamin A is added at 5% level as this helps to prevent separation of oil. Sodium chloride is added at 2% level. The mixture is ground to a smooth paste and packed in bottles. Peanut butter can be consumed with chappathi, poori on bread.

PEANUT COOKIES

Ingredients

GROUNDNUT CHIKKI

Ingredients

OIL CAKE

Oil cakes or oil meal the by products of the oil extraction industry is a rich source of proteins, and calories and used as livestock feed. If techniques were developed to make the oil cake / oil meal suitable for human consumption, it would go a long way as serving as a cheap source of nutrition for the poor. Oil cakes are produced in the form of tightly pressed plates or in the form of slabs. Oil meal is obtained when the oil is extracted by means of solvents (benzene, hexane etc) from ground seeds of oil crops. After extraction is completed the solvent is removed from the seed residues and the seeds are dried. The oil content of the oil meal is low (0.7-0.4%) because the solvent extracts a greater part of the oil. Therefore the oil seed meal is always a free flowing product.

Groundnut oil meal