Project Number: 6602-21000-022-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: May 27, 2008
End Date: May 26, 2013

Objective:
The long term objective for this project is the development of peanut germplasm with resistance to economically significant biotic and abiotic stresses. Over the next five years, we will focus on the following specific objectives: 1) Develop peanut germplasm with resistance to preharvest aflatoxin contamination; 2) Develop peanut germplasm with high oleic acid and resistance to the peanut root-knot nematode and tomato spotted wilt virus; 3) Develop peanut germplasm with improved drought resistance; and 4) Devise strategies to assess the genetic diversity for traits that will be important for the economical production of biodiesel from peanut.

Approach:
Breeding populations will be developed by hybridizing high yielding cultivars with sources of resistance to preharvest aflatoxin contamination (1) and sources of resistance to drought (3). These populations will be evaluated under field conditions with drought and heat stress imposed by covering the entire test area with a mobile greenhouse. Aflatoxin contamination of the subsequent yield will be determined using the immunoaffinity column fluorometer method. Progeny will be selected based on relatively low aflatoxin contamination (1) and/or relatively high pod yields (3). 2) Breeding populations will be developed by hybridizing cultivars with high oleic acid with high yielding breeding lines with resistance to the peanut root-knot nematode and tomato spotted wilt virus. These populations will be tested for resistance to nematodes using a greenhouse screening technique. Progenies exhibiting nematode resistance will be field tested for virus resistance, and resulting selections will be analyzed for fatty acid composition. 4) A revised and updated core collection will be used to access genetic diversity for important characteristics for economical productions of biodiesel (pod yield, meat content, percent oil, and disease resistance).