Climate-smart groundnuts for achieving high productivity and improved quality: current status, challenges and opportunities

Authors: GANGURDE, SUNIL - International Crops Research Institute For Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) - India; KUMAR, RAKESH - International Crops Research Institute For Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) - India; ARUN, K. PANDEY - International Crops Research Institute For Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) - India; BUROW, MARK - Texas A&M Agrilife; Echevarria Laza, Haydee; NAYAK, SPURTHI - University Of Agricultural Sciences; Guo, Baozhu; LIAO, BOSHOU - Oil Crops Research Institute - China; BHAT, RAMESH - University Of Agricultural Sciences; MADHURI, NAGA - Acharya Ng Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU)

Submitted to: Standards in Genomic Sciences
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/16/2019
Publication Date: 2/16/2019
Citation: Gangurde, S.S., Kumar, R., Arun, K., Burow, M., Echevarria Laza, H.J., Nayak, S.N., Guo, B., Liao, B., Bhat, R.S., Madhuri, N. 2019. Climate-smart groundnuts for achieving high productivity and improved quality: current status, challenges and opportunities. In: Kole, C., Editor. Standards in Genomic Sciences. Edition 1. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. p. 133-172. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93536-2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93536-2

Interpretive Summary: Within the past decade, the climate variability has become more erratic showing more often extremes, which presents challenges to develop more resilient crop varieties with improved yield production. This book chapter addresses the need and complexity of developing peanut varieties with improved yield in challenging environments. Here, researchers from different institutions, including Texas A&M, Texas Tech University, New Mexico State University, USDA-ARS and International Crop Research Institute summarized past and current research. We proposed that the combined approach of conventional breeding, genomics and modeling seem to be the most effective path to develop improved peanut varieties for challenging environments contributing to meet the estimated increased demand for food supply by 2100.

Technical Abstract: About 90% of total groundnut is cultivated in the semi-arid tropic (SAT) regions of the world as a major oilseed and food crop, and provides essential nutrients required by human diet. Climate change (CC) is a main threat to yield and quality of the product in the SAT regions, and effects are already being seen in some temperate areas also. Rising CO2 levels, erratic rainfall, humidity, short episodes of high temperature and salinity hamper the physiology, disease resistance, fertility, yield as well as seed nutrient levels of groundnut. To meet growing demands of increasing population against the threats of CC, it is necessary to develop climate smart (CS) varieties with enhanced and stable genetic improvements in response to changing climate. Identifying the traits affected by climate change in groundnut will be key for developing appropriate strategy for developing new varieties. Fast changing scenarios of product ecologies as a consequence of climate change need faster development and replacement of improved varieties in farmers’ fields to sustain yield and quality. Use of modern genomics technology is likely to help in improved understanding and efficient breeding for climate smart traits such as tolerance to drought and heat tolerance as well as biotic stresses such as foliar diseases, stem rot, peanut bud necrosis disease (PBND) and pre harvest aflatoxin contamination. The novel promising technologies such as genomic selection (GS) and genome editing need to be tested for their potential utility in developing climate smart groundnut varieties. System modeling may further improve the understanding and characterization of the problems of target ecologies for devising strategies to overcome the problem. The combination of conventional breeding techniques with genomics and system modelling approaches will be leading a new year of system biology assisted breeding for sustainable agronomy and nutrition in the face of climate change.