Page 392 All yields in the experiment are satisfactory, partly owing to the good stands achieved. Planting was at 28 in. x 5 in. (theoretical population about 41,000), and was followed by good rains. The yield of runner varieties or varieties tending towards the runner habit (including Virginia Bunch) is distinctly higher than that of upright types (due perhaps to higher plant population), but this is offset, in this experiment, by the lower oil contents of the more spreading types, so that oil yields per acre are fairly uniform. Valencia and Manyema, which are rather open bunch types, have intermediate characteristics. The commercial varieties Natal Common and Spanish are evidently superior to other varieties in oil content, but it would appear that the conditions of the experiment were sufficiently favourable for all varieties to yield well. Perhaps the most disappointing result was the relatively low yield (at a high plant population) of the very even variety Kidang, the vigour of whose early growth had been most encouraging.
The following varieties were multiplied in single rows:---
205
Oil content
Variety
Castle Cary bunch
Barberton bunch
Cordoba bunch
Spanish runner
Source
Per cent.
Nigeria
43.4
E.C.G.C., Nyasaland
43.6
E.C.G.C., Nyasaland
46.3
E.C.G.C., Nyasaland
43.2
Japanese bunch
E.C.G.C., Nyasaland
48.1
Valencia bunch
E.C.G.C., Nyasaland
46.4
Mwitunde semi-bunch
E.C.G.C., Nyasaland
42.3
Chimbuwila runner
E.C.G.C., Nyasaland
41.5
Gambia bunch
Manyema bunch
E.C.G.C., Nyasaland
45.8
E.C.G.C., Nyasaland
45.9
449-346R × J10
Potchefstroom, South Africa
40.3
449-105R X H
439-44R X H
Potchefstroom, South Africa
42.3
Potchefstroom, South Africa
41.4
439-683 x H...
Potchefstroom, South Africa
42.9
439-132R X J10
439-90(a)Ny x 310
...
Potchefstroom, South Africa
44.0
Potchefstroom, South Africa
39.4
Valencia
Natal Common
Spanish bunch
Potchefstroom, South Africa Potchefstroom, South Africa
44.8.
48.3
...
Texas Southern Rhodesia
47.5
43.8
...
Virginia bunch
Co-operative studies on free fatty acid content and other characteristics of
groundnut oil
Groundnut oil extracted from commercial shipments of kernels reaching the United Kingdom usually has a fairly high content (1 per cent, or over) of free fatty acid (FFA) derived from hydrolysis of the oil. It was suggested during the season that this hydrolysis might in part be due to the action of lipases in the kernels. If this were the case, heat treatment to destroy the lipases before shipment might result in the production of oil of lower FFA content and con- sequently higher commercial value.
This question was examined in co-operation with Professor T. P. Hilditch,. Department of Industrial Chemistry, Liverpool University.
Three varieties of groundnuts, Valencia (V), Natal Common (NC), and Spanish Bunch (SB), were studied. Samples were taken as follows:-
Treatment Symbol
Condition at harvest
Pods or Kernels
Heat treated (+)
Sent by air
or not (-)
or surface post
O-234
0
Freshly dug
Pods
Air
1.
Cured
Pods
Cured
Kernels
Cured
Cured
Kernels Kernels
++|||
Air
Sea
Air
Sea
Page 392
143
Page 392
TH
"Page 393 of 1097
Page 393**
1
1
i
JA
02
PJ
Hi
L
1
J
J