The vegetative and productive performance of peanut plants, cultivated under different spacing and planting densities, at two sowings dates, in the raining season (march-june) and by July-October were evaluated in the agro ecologic conditions of the Recôncavo Region of the state of Bahia, Brazil. The experiment was carried out at the Experimental Station of the School of Agronomy, Federal University of Recôncavo of Bahia, in a randomized complete block design, with the following factorial arrangement: 3 x 3 + 1 (three plant densities: 5, 10, and 15 plants m-1 x three plant spacing: 0.50 m, 0.65 m, and 0.80 m, plus a control treatment with planting holes of approximately 0.25 m x 0.30 m, with four replications. The following agronomic characteristics were studied: final plant height, number of final branches, leaf number. Ten plants per plot were sampled for the evaluations, and the volume of fresh pods and grain yield was determined based on the final plant population of each plot. It was concluded that: the decision on the plant arrangement that gives the highest yield of pods and grains depends on the farmer's commercial interests (volume or mass) and also on the sowing dates. The utilization of new planting arrangements by the farmers from the Recôncavo region of Bahia is necessary, since the conventional planting system in holes (0.25 x 0.30), presents the lowest productivity, at both sowings dates.
Arachis hypogaea; peanuts yields
