This study was carried out to determine the optimum harvest date of unshelled immature peanuts and dried kernels from 60 to 120 days after flowering. Fresh pod yield of spanish-type variety, 'Shaedl-tangkong(SD)' reached a peak of 9,140kg/ ha at 70 (days after flowering(Aug. 13) while that of virginia-type variety, 'Daepoongtangkong(DP)' reached a peak of 8,820kg/ha at 90 days(Sept. 11) after flowering. SD and DP showed maximum fresh kernel yield of 6,090 and 6,470kg/ha at 90 days after flowering (Sept. 11), respectively, while dry kernel yield reached a peak of 3,300 and 3,720kg/ha at 110 days(Oct. 1), respectively. Oil content of SD and DP were the highest at 90 days and 100 days after flowering, respectively and the oil content of two varieties increased rapidly from 60 to 90 days. Tannin content of the seed hull of SD increased continuously until 110 days after flowering while that of DP maximized at 100 days. The tannin content of the two varieties increased rapidly from 60 to 100 days. Total sugar of SD and DP showed highest content at 60 days and 70 days after flowering, respectively and suger content decreased very rapidly until 80 days and after that sugar content kept nearly constant. Oil, tannin and total sugar content of spanish-type SD were higher than those of virginia-type DP.

The mechanism of natural removal of astringency and seasonal changes of tannin substance in sweet persimmon(Fuyu) and astrigent persimmon(Chungdo Bansi)were investigated. Tannin productivity of astringent persimmon fruit was higher than that of sweet perimmon fruit during growth. In the reactivity of tannin to acetaldehyde, it was observed that tannin from sweet persimmon have a milder chemical properties than that from astrigent persimmon. The threshold value of astringency on sweet persimmon tannin was higher than that of astrigent persimmon tannin. Tannin substances from sweet persimmon distributed mainly in lower molecular weight range at harvest stage, but those from astrigent persimmon distributed mainly in higher molecular weight range. Therefore, the natural removal of astringency was related to difference of tannin productivity, threshold value of astringency, reactivity and qualitative difference of tanni.

In our studies on the role of -galactosidase in fruit softening, significant difficulty, was encountered in our attempts to extract RNA from persimmon(Diospyros kaki L. cv. Fuyu) fruit due to astringency and tannin content. Initial, unsuccessful RNA extractions involved methods using guanidinium isothiocyanate/CsCl with and without polyvinylpyrrolidone(PVP), phenol/sodium lauryl sulfate(SDS), guanidinium hydrochloride, as well as polysomal RNA purification method that used 0.2 M Tris-HCI (pH 9.0) containing KCI, Mg-acetate, EDTA, -mercaptoethanol, and sucrose. A method was devised which employed treatment of fruit with CO2 gas to diminish astringency prior to RNA extraction, followed by extraction of tissue powders with Proteinase K extraction buffer containing PVP and ascorbate at an alkaline pH. This procedure resulted in the removal of tannins and other polyphenolics and extraction of relatively large amount of high-quality RNA suitable for cDNA library construction and polymerase chain reaction(PCR). Futhermore, the procedure does not use the toxic and corrosive chemical guanidinium isothiocyanate or require ultracentrifugation.