Groundnut

The groundnut is a Plante of the family of the Fabacées (also called leguminous plants) originating in South America and cultivated in the tropical areas, subtropical and moderated (a small commercial production is even made by it in the south of Canada, in Ontario) for its oleaginous Graine S. It has the effect of burying its Fruit S after the Fécondation. The term indicates also the fruit (a Gousse) and itself granulates it, also called peanut (of the Nahuatl tlālcacahuatl ).

Common nouns: groundnut, peanut, pea of ground, ground pistachio, pinotte (Quebec, of English " peanut").

Description

The groundnut is an annual plant with yellow flowers from 20 to 60 cm height.

The sheets are made up to 2 or 3 pairs of membranous, oval leaflets. They are provided at their base with stipulate engainantes.

The flowers are almost sessile and appear with the armpit of the sheets, separately or in small groups. The papilionacée corolla is yellow orange. Cheesecloths 9 are welded out of tube by their net. The ovary is inserted on a particular support, the Gynophore.

After fecundation, the ovary is carried out of ground by the development of the Gynophore which lengthens while being curved towards the ground by positive Géotropisme. The fruit matures with a depth from 3 to 5 cm. It is a plant which requires for this reason a light ground and drained well. The fruit is a Gousse from 3 to 4 cm length, called hull with the commercial plan, containing generally only two Graine S, which réticulée and is strangled between seeds but not partitioned outside.

The ovoid seeds are wrapped in a red dry tegument.

Culture

The cultivated varieties very many and are gathered in two great types:

  • Virginia, with crawling port and long vegetative cycle (120 to 140 days); the seeds do not germinate prematurely;
  • Spanish and Valencia, with set up port and vegetative cycle court (90 to 110 days); the output is raised more, but fast germination after maturity can pose problem.

The cycle of culture lasts from 90 to 150 days. Flowering intervenes one month after sowing.

Harvest must be done as of maturity (when the film which recovers seed detaches easily). An important point is to avoid the development of Moisissure S which can produce Aflatoxine S, dangerous for the cattle which would consume the Tourteau X contaminated.

To announce, a viral disease, the “rivet washer”, transmitted by a Plant louse. This disease causes the stunting of the feet and cause a drop in appreciably the output especially if it appears early (less than 40 days after sowing).

Two other fungic diseases, the Cercosporiose (tavelure of the sheets) and rusts it (spores on the lower face of the sheets), are present on groundnut especially in wet climate, where they cause a fall of the sheets involving a fall of the outputs in pods.

Uses

  • human Consumption
    • Groundnut oil, used like Oil of table or raw material for the manufacture of Margarine, resists well the high temperatures (crackling)
    • This oil is not the best nutritivement (colza will be preferred to him) because of its high rate of saturated fatty-acids (20% compared with 8% for colza). However its rate of fatty-acids mono-unsaturates is among the best with 60% compared with 62% of Colza what in fact an oil interesting for a nonregular use. Indeed, its rates of omega 3,6 and 9 are very weak.
    • Peanut butter (very popular in North America)
    • flour of groundnut, food additional employed in cookie factory (de-oiled, rich in amino-acid essential)
    • groundnuts in hull (basic food in certain countries of Africa)
    • peeled groundnuts, groundnuts salted for Aperitif, groundnuts for Confectionery
  • animal Feeds
    • Oil cake of groundnut, residue of pressure after extraction of oil
    • fans used like Fodder (equivalent with the hay of alfalfa)
  • Industry
    • groundnut oil of second extraction for Combustible Soap nery
    • hulls used like
  • Agriculture
    • like all leguminous plants, the groundnut is a culture which enriches the ground in Azote. It can be used like green Manure.
  • medicinal Plant: the Groundnut oil is registered with the French Pharmacopée like medicamentous solvent.

  • the molecule of Pyridine is responsible for the odor of peanuts.

Allergy

To note that certain people suffer from Allergie, sometimes very acute, with some Protéine S of groundnut. A study shows that the groundnut consumption during the Grossesse multiplies by 4 the risk of the baby to suffer later from allergy to groundnuts.

Economy

Production

The worldwide production of groundnuts (not peeled) rose to 36 million tons in 2003 (source FAO), including two country, the China and the India, account for 59%.

Trade

The exchanges of groundnut relate to a weak share of harvest, 4 million tons (year 2001), approximately 11% of the production, primarily in the form of groundnuts in hulls (2,4 million tons). The exchanges of derivative products are limited enough: peanut butter: 49.000 T, groundnut oil: 270.000 T.

The principal exporters are China (1,6 MT), Argentina (0,5 MT) and the United States (0,4 MT), the principal importers the Netherlands (0,6 MT), Indonesia (0,3 MT), the United Kingdom and Japan.

The groundnut oil consumption in France and in the European Union regressed in front of the strong growth of the local production of oil of Tournesol and Colza and in front of the considerable increase of the number of allergic to groundnut.

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