Evaluating Valencia Peanut Mini Core Collection Under Two Irrigation Treatments.

Peanut production in the US is geared, primarily, toward the confectionary industry and the manufacturing of peanut butter, rather than oil production.  The four market types (i.e., Virginia, Runner, Spanish, and Valencia) grown in US are characterized by distinct growth habit, pod/seed size, and flavor attributes. Valencia (ssp. fastigiata var. fastigaita) peanuts constitute only 1-2% of the total US market and are almost exclusively cultivated in New Mexico and Texas. However, Valencia peanuts possess a sweet flavor desired by the confectionary industry, they have a very high in-shell market value and remain a viable niche crop for production in these regions. Valencia peanuts are generally grown as an irrigated crop in eastern New Mexico and west Texas. Water is getting scare due to increase number of dairies in the region. Most of the peanut growing area is under Ogallalla aquifer. The objective of our research study is to identify and screen for drought tolerant lines among Valencia core collection. For any breeding program to be successful we need to identify germplasm lines that are tolerant to drought and at the same time yield high. Recently a Valencia core was developed from the USDA collection using 26 morphological descriptors.  In this study we grew 80 PI's from the Valencia core collection developed by NMSU at Brownfield, Texas under full irrigation (673 mm) and limited irrigation(419 mm). We identified few PI's (315612, 493630, 493325, 493810, 493624, 493415, 497642 and 493461) that performed better under limited irrigation conditions compared to the check Valencia- C.