Abstract:Present research was carried out to investigate the suitable nitrogen fertilizer consortium for high production of peanut (Arachis Hypogaea L.). The effects of nitrogen fertilizer rates on senescence characteristics and yield of different peanut cultivars were studied under high-yielding field condition. The cultivars used for the study were ‘Baisha 1016’ (pearl bean type) and ‘Huayu 17’ (common type). The results showed that in the leaves of these two cultivars, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic rate, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities were all increased with the increase of nitrogen fertilizer rate, and malondialdehyde (MDA) was reduced, however, the above parameters did not show any significant change under nitrogen fertilizer rate exceeding 135 kg per hectare, which indicated that high level of exogenous nitrogen application can postpone the senescence in peanut leaves. With increasing the application of nitrogen within a limited range, the valid pods of two cultivars were improved, but the frequency of pods (pods per kg) was decreased, which led to the increase of fruit yield with increasing nitrogen application (under 0-90 kg/hm2 and 0-135 kg/hm2 nitrogen fertilizer rate of ‘Baisha 1016’ and ‘Huayu 17’ respectively). However, if exceeding these ranges, increasing nitrogen fertilizer rate resulted in the drop of valid pods, the increase of pods per kg and thereby the reduction in fruits yield. Our study has good significance in the field of legume production under fertilized conditions, as it reveals a standard consortium for exogenous nitrogen application.