Abstract
Experiments were conducted in the 2017 and 2018 growing seasons.
Halisbey, NC-7, and Sultan peanut cultivars were used as the plant
material. Irrigation intervals were set as two and four days, and
irrigation levels were set as 50% (I50), 75% (I75), 100% (I100) and
125% (I125) of Class-A pan evaporations. Oil content, unsaturated and
saturated fatty acids of peanut cultivars were determined. Experimental
data were initially subjected to variance analysis, then regression
analyses were conducted for irrigation intervals, and irrigation levels
of the cultivars and biplot analysis was performed to assess the
cultivar x irrigation interval x irrigation level interactions. For oil
content, treatments were identified as the most appropriate irrigation
for a two-day irrigation interval of all cultivars; I100 for four-day
irrigation interval of Halisbey and Sultan cultivars and I75 for
four-day irrigation interval of NC-7. Oleic, linoleic, and palmitic
acids were the major fatty acids of peanuts. Cultivars exhibited
different variations in these fatty acids based on irrigation intervals
and irrigation levels. In all cultivar, the irrigation intervals and
irrigation levels with a high oleic acid content yielded low linoleic
and palmitic acid contents. According to present biplot and regression
analyses, the greatest oleic acid contents were obtained from two and
four-day irrigation intervals of I50 treatments in Halisbey and NC-7
cultivars and from two and four-day irrigation intervals of I75
treatments of the second year in Sultan cultivar. Present findings
revealed that for quality peanut production, both irrigation intervals
and irrigation levels should be taken into consideration.