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The indeterminate nature and underground fruiting habit of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) makes it a challenge to determine the optimal harvest time. The objectives of this study were (1) to gain additional information about how maturity and canopy health influence peg strength, yield, and grade and (2) to address anecdotal claims of differences in peg strength and digging losses among cultivars. Field trials were established in Citra, FL, and Tifton, GA. Two peanut cultivars (“Georgia-06G” and “Tifguard”) were grown under two fungicide programs (full program: every 14-day spraying interval; and reduced program: every 28-day spraying interval), and harvested at three different maturity levels (early, optimum, and late based on an accumulated growing degree day method). The fungicide program had a significant impact on yield only in 2013 at Citra, likely because the canopy structure was decreased because of fungal disease known as leaf spots (causal agents: Cercospora arachidicola and Cercosporidium personatum). The timing of the harvest had a significant impact on yield, grade, peg strength, and digging loss. In addition, yield, grade, peg strength, and digging losses differed between the peanut cultivars. These results show that reduced fungicide program might affect the yield because of the disease severity and that the optimal harvest time should consider the level of the defoliation. Although there was no correlation between peg strength and digging loss, over-maturity can cause more digging losses compared to optimal harvest time. Tifguard had higher digging loss than Georiga-06G. This study provides additional useful information on cultivars to growers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sesame is a new crop for the southeastern USA, most recently being considered for this region because of frequent drought events in the historical farming area of the crop, that is, Texas and Oklahoma, and for overall expansion of its domestic production. Although sesame was introduced in the USA in the 19th century, its commercial cultivation was not possible before the 1990s with the release of non-dehiscent cultivars. The southeastern USA has been considered promising because of its greater annual precipitation as compared with the southwestern USA. In addition, sesame has some highly valuable agronomic characteristics that could make the crop a beneficial addition to crop rotations in the southeast. These crop characteristics include the following: nematode resistance potential, drought tolerance, nitrogen recovery ability, rotational suitability with the predominant agronomic crops in the region, and capacity to attract a wide variety of pollinators. Since very little United States-based literature is available on the crop, the objective of this review is to provide: 1) a sesame history in the USA; 2) a description of the botanical characteristics of the crop that make it suitable for mechanized production in the USA; and 3) an overview of the principal sesame production methods of interest for the southeastern USA. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]