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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Dawson, Georgia » National Peanut Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #316022
Title: Leathery Hull Peanuts – Effect on Shelling Performance

Author
item Butts, Christopher - Chris
item Lamb, Marshall
item HARRIS, G - University Of Georgia

Submitted to: American Peanut Research and Education Society Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/15/2015
Publication Date: 12/27/2015
Citation: Butts, C.L., Lamb, M.C., Harris, G.H. 2015. Leathery Hull Peanuts – Effect on Shelling Performance. American Peanut Research and Education Society Abstracts. Presented at annual APRES meeting.

Interpretive Summary: none required

Technical Abstract: When shelling peanuts from the 2012 peanut crop, various shellers experienced diminished shelling plant throughput when shelling peanuts harvested from isolated geographical regions. Shellers reported a reduction of 25-30% throughput of the first stage sheller bank with significant increases in splits and broken kernels. Anecdotal observations by shelling plant staff was that the hulls seemed to be more “leathery” than the hulls from other locations. Elemental tissue analysis of the peanut kernels and hulls harvested from one of the affected areas in 2013 showed some significant differences in some of the minor nutrients when compared to samples from NPRL research plots. Prior to planting the 2014 crop, soil samples were obtained from one field in Georgia and five fields in Florida identified by the shellers as historically producing the “leathery” hull peanuts and from the Hooks Hanner Environmental Resource Center (HHERC) plots near Dawson, GA. When the fields were harvested, and delivered to the buying point, the FSIS check sample was retained and delivered to the NPRL for shelling and analysis. Samples were shelled in the Model 4 sample sheller using the optimum sheller grate size for the 1st and 2nd stages for each sample. The shelling grate for the 3rd stage was 7.1 mm (18/64”) for all samples. The fraction of peanuts shelled in each stage and the mass flow rate through the first and second stage shelling process was calculated for each sample. Approximately 74, 19, and 7% of the Florida “leathery hull” samples were shelled in the first, second and third stages. Six samples from Georgia fields identified as usually having leathery hulls, had 85% shelled in the first stage, 13% shelled in the second stage, and 2% shelled in the third stage. The fraction of peanuts from HHERC that were shelled in the first, second, and third stages were 81, 11, and 8%, respectively. Throughput of the first stage shelling for the HHERC, Florida, and Georgia samples was 148, 78, and 98 kg/h, respectively. Similarly, the throughput for the second stage sheller was 47, 28, 29 kg/h, respectively. Data regarding the soil nutrient analysis, minor nutrient analysis of the hulls and kernels, and some physical characteristics will be discussed in relation to the shelling characteristics.