Response to drought stress in a subset of the U.S. peanut mini-core evaluated in Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia

Authors: Bennett, Rebecca; BUROW, MARK - Texas A&M Agrilife; BALOTA, MARIA - Virginia Tech; CHAGOYA, JENNIFER - Texas A&M Agrilife; SARKAR, SAYANTAN - Virginia Tech; SUNG, CHENG-JUNG - Texas Tech University; PAYTON, MARK - Rocky Vista University; WANG, NING - Oklahoma State University; Payton, Paxton; Chamberlin, Kelly; Mornhinweg, Dolores - Do

Submitted to: Peanut Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/16/2022
Publication Date: 12/19/2022
Citation: Bennett, R., Burow, M.D., Balota, M., Chagoya, J., Sarkar, S., Sung, C., Payton, M.E., Wang, N., Payton, P.R., Chamberlin, K.D., Mornhinweg, D.W. 2022. Response to drought stress in a subset of the U.S. peanut mini-core evaluated in Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia. Peanut Science. 49(1):71-87. https://doi.org/10.3146/0095-3679-491-PS21-14.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3146/0095-3679-491-PS21-14

Interpretive Summary: In many parts of the world, limited water in addition to climate change are significant challenges to the future of peanut production, and much work remains in developing heat- and drought-resistant cultivars. To this end, we evaluated 21 genotypes from the U.S. peanut mini-core under water-limited conditions in 2018 and 2019 in Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia. These accessions were identified as potential outliers for ten drought stress traits, and therefore may be useful for identifying genetic markers associated with drought tolerance. Results indicated that plant wilting and leaf folding were less variable in different environments than chlorophyll meter readings, flower counts, yield, kernel percentage, and seed weight. No differences among peanut genotypes were observed with canopy temperature or NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index). Leaf folding was moderately correlated with chlorophyll meter readings and flower counts; chlorophyll meter readings were also correlated with yield and kernel percentage. Despite environmental differences between subhumid Virginia and the semiarid Southwest, the same genotypes were present at the extremes for most traits. This information may be useful for future studies by highlighting drought-tolerance associated traits that may be more stable in different production environments, as well as the outlier genotypes for those traits.

Technical Abstract: In many parts of the world, limited water in addition to climate change are significant challenges to the future of peanut production, and much work remains in developing heat- and drought-resistant cultivars. To this end, we evaluated 21 accessions of the U.S. peanut mini-core under water-limited conditions in 2018 and 2019 in Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia. These accessions were identified as potentially exhibiting phenotypic extremes for ten drought stress traits, and therefore may be useful for identifying genetic markers associated with drought tolerance. Results indicated that plant wilting and leaf folding were less affected by genotype by environment interactions than SCMR (SPAD chlorophyll meter readings), flower counts, yield, TSMK (total sound mature kernels), and seed weight. No differences among genotypes were observed with canopy temperature, canopy temperature depression, or NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index). Leaf folding was moderately correlated (|r| = 0.40 to 0.52, P < 0.01) with SCMR and flower counts; SCMR was also correlated with yield and TSMK (r = 0.48, P < 0.01). Despite environmental differences between subhumid Virginia and the semiarid Southwest, the locations shared genotypes at the extremes for most traits. This information may be useful for future studies by highlighting drought-tolerance associated traits that may be more stable in different production environments, as well as divergent genotypes for those traits.