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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Tifton, Georgia » Crop Genetics and Breeding Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #313240
Title: Divergence in drought-resistance traits among parents of recombinant peanut inbred lines

Author
item SHEKOOFA, A - North Carolina State University
item DEVI, J - North Carolina State University
item SINCLAIR, T - North Carolina State University
item Holbrook, Carl - Corley
item ISLEIB, T - North Carolina State University

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/1/2013
Publication Date: 11/1/2013
Citation: Shekoofa, A., Devi, J.M., Sinclair, T.R., Holbrook Jr, C.C., Isleib, T.G. 2013. Divergence in drought-resistance traits among parents of recombinant peanut inbred lines. Crop Science. 53:2569-2576.

Interpretive Summary: Peanut yield is often limited by drought because it is often grown in regions with intermittent rainfall and on sandy soil with low water-holding capacity. To increase yields, it is essential to develop varieties with improved drought tolerance. Breeding for drought tolerance is extremely difficult and would be facilitated by the identification of molecular markers for use in marker assisted selection (MAS). To develop markers, a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population that is segregating for drought tolerance needs to be identified and phenotypes. The objective of this study was to characterize the level of drought tolerance in six peanut genotypes that are parents of existing RIL populations. Significant differences in levels of drought tolerance were observed. Based on these differences, two RIL populations that should be segregating for drought tolerance where identified for further study.

Technical Abstract: Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is often grown in climates of intermittent drought on sandy soils. Plants expressing water-conservative traits would minimize exposure to end-of-season, severe drought. Two traits resulting in conservative transpiration rates (TR s) are limitations on TR with soil drying and with increasing vapor pressure deficit (VPD). This study focused on parents of existing recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations as sources of divergent expressions of these traits. If divergence is found, their derived RIL population could be used in identifying genetic markers. Since both water-conservation traits are laborious to document, a key extension of this study was to explore the possibility of using aquaporin inhibitors as practical tools in marker identification. Tifrunner had a lower soil water threshold for a decline in TR than NC 3033 and N08082olJCT. Tifrunner also had a higher VPD breakpoint than three genotypes, including NC 3033 and N08082olJCT. The difference between Tifrunner and these other two genotypes extended to aquaporin inhibitors. The decrease in TR of Tifrunner when exposed to aquaporin inhibitors was much larger than NC 3033 when treated with silver and N08082olJCT when treated with zinc. This study indicates that an effort to develop drought markers in peanut RIL population should focus on Tifrunner x NC 3033 using the silver inhibitor and/or Tifrunner x N08082olJCT using the zinc inhibitor.