Use of Marker Assisted Selection in Peanut.

Close cooperation between conventional plant breeders and molecular geneticist will be needed to efficiently and effectively utilize modern genetic tools in the development of peanut cultivars. We have used this approach at Tifton to develop molecular markers for resistance to the peanut root-knot nematode and molecular markers for both alleles responsible for high oleic fatty acid content. We are currently utilizing these markers in an accelerated back cross breeding program to develop a high oleic versions of Tifguard, a nematode resistant cultivar. We hybridized Tifguard with two high oleic cultivars, Georgia 02C and Florida 07. We then used molecular markers to test and select the appropriate F₁ plants and used these as parents to develop the first backcross generation. Use of this accelerated backcross breeding program with marker assisted selection should result in the development of Tifguard High Oleic in 26 months.