Collection, Preservation and Utilization of Wild Arachis Germplasm from South America

Approach

The goal of TAM 14P was to collect, preserve, and utilize wild Arachis species germplasm from South America. It links with CENARGEN/EMBRAPA-Brazil, since South America is the source of origin of peanut (determined by location with highest diversity in species). U.S. research to use this wild germplasm along with NCS 34P brings into the CRSP the two major U.S. programs to introduce genes from wild species into cultivated species. The project will involve the training of a Ph.D. student (Ousmane Ndoye) from Senegal with a goal to introduce genes for early maturity into germplasm adapted to West Africa; and he will spend the growing season in Senegal to maintain the breeding efforts there.

Achievements

Germplasm collection was continuing, but transfer of the earliness trait was slow because of the ploidy of the donor species. The project is, of necessity, long-term, however, since it was discovered that the earliness donor, A. praecox, has only 18 chromosomes, the progress will be even slower. Good progress was being made in the transfer of seed dormancy into varieties adapted to growing conditions in Senegal. Breeding lines in F7 and F8 are currently being evaluated and Spanish type varieties with seed dormancy selected from this program will soon be available for seed increase and deployment to farmers in Senegal.

Focus

Production efficiency