Peanuts: Germplasm Resources1

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Peanut germplasm resources in the USA are considerable and contain a great amount of genetic diversity. However, some are rather poorly organized and few have been adequately evaluated, mainly because of limited funding and support personnel. Progress is underway to organize these genetic stocks systematically and to strengthen germplasm resources and evaluation. Further explorations in South America for additional genetic resources are needed to preserve the present germplasm while these sources are still available. Unfortunately, the cultivars of Arachis hypogaea L. are susceptible to several important diseases and pests. Some of the wild species of Arachis possess resistance to certain of these pests but they have not been utilized because of poorly understood species cross‐incompatibility factors. Proper utilization of the genomes of the 30 to 50 species from seven clearly differentiated taxonomic sections should revolutionize peanut breeding not only in pest resistance but in plant structure as well. Efforts are underway at several locations to develop methods of hybridizing species of this genetically difficult group. As the barriers to crossing are broken by bridging schemes and other methods, a great amount of additional genetic material will become available for future variety development.
Keywords

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: