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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Tifton, Georgia » Crop Genetics and Breeding Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #211908
Title: Lessons Learned While Breeding Peanut for Improved Drought Tolerance

Author
item Holbrook, Carl - Corley
item CANTONWINE, EMILY - UNIV OF GA
item Sullivan, Dana
item Guo, Baozhu
item DONG, WEIBO - UNIV OF GA

Submitted to: Proceedings American Society of Horticultural Sciences
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2007
Publication Date: 7/1/2007
Citation: Holbrook Jr, C.C., Cantonwine, E., Sullivan, D.G., Guo, B., Dong, W. 2007. Lessons Learned While Breeding Peanut for Improved Drought Tolerance. HortScience 42(4):817.

Interpretive Summary: not required

Technical Abstract: Peanuts become contaminated with aflatoxins when subjected to prolong periods of heat and drought stress. We have documented that improved drought tolerance can result in reduced aflatoxin contamination, and we are using drought-tolerance as an indirect selection technique to develop peanut cultivars that are less susceptible to preharvest aflatoxin contamination. We have tried many different approaches to attempt to maximize breeding progress for drought tolerance. These included measurements using carbon isotope discrimination, the SPAD chlorophyll meter, minimum epidermal conductance, and ground-based remote sensing of canopy reflectance. The advantages and disadvantages of these, and other approaches, will be discussed. These efforts have resulted in late generation breeding lines that have high relative yield and low relative aflatoxin contamination when subjected to late season heat and drought stress.