Location: Peanut and Small Grains Research Unit
Project Number: 3070-21220-009-019-T
Project Type: Trust Fund Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Feb 1, 2025
End Date: Jan 31, 2026
Objective:
This project aims to culminate in a germplasm release containing peanut smut resistance for future breeding in the U.S. and Nicaragua.
Approach:
Our team will introgress smut resistance from previously identified immune accessions into cultivated backgrounds of runner peanut. An aggressive bioinformatic-based screening protocol will be followed to allow rapid screening of breeding materials for the retention of smut resistance (and other value-added traits, including high oleic acid content, and resistance to leaf spot, rust, white mold, nematode, and sclerotinia blight) and recurrent parent agronomic performance. Selected breeding lines will be field tested for smut resistance (in Nicaragua) and agronomic performance (in Nicaragua and the U.S.). Finally, elite breeding lines will be released as superior smut resistant cultivars for commercial production in the U.S. and in Nicaragua.