September 1955]      A. MARIAKULANDAI AND P. VENKATARAMAIAH                     171

grown in an affected or unaffected area contained fluorine and the 'spreading'
had more fluorine than the 'bunch' evidently due to its longer duration of growth.
This finding was, therefore, in favour of the bunch variety and did not go to support
the popular belief that the incidence of the disease was more acute after the introduc-
tion of the 'bunch' variety.

                                                       TABLE II

      Comparison of the fluorine content of bunch and spreading varieties of groundnut

To see whether the increased cultivation of groundnut, due to the introduc-
tion of the shorter duration 'bunch' variety and the consequent increased mixing of
the groundnut haulms with other cereal straws, had any effect on the feeding value,
a comparison of feeding values with other straws generally available in the area
was made. The data presented in Table III shows that the feeding value of ground-
nut haulms is superior to other straws and there could be no cause for complaint
under this score either.

                                                           TABLE III

              Comparison of the feeding values of groundnut haulms and cereal straws

                                                        (On dry basis)