Department of Botany, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab-141004
*Present address: Crop Physiology (Legumes), ICRISAT, Patancheru, ICRISAT A.P. 502 324
A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of removal of flowers and gynophores on the drymatter partitioning in vegetative and reproductive parts of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) var. M 13. Flower removal in different reproductive phases resulted in enhancement in dry matter (DM) accumulation in vegetative parts. Flower removal during both early+late phases elicited maximum response. The number of immature and mature pods increased when flowers of early phase were removed. The DM accumulation increased in the reproductive sinks with the removal of flower at early or late or at both these phases. Gynophore removal during late phase increased the DM accumulation in vegetative parts as well as in the already established reproductive sinks. Removal of gynophores produced in late phase, resulted in a significant increase in the number of mature pods while number of immature pods decreased. It is concluded that the flower removal at early phase reduces the competition between vegetative and reproductive sinks which resulted in the increase of the number of effective pods.
