This project attempts to address major problems of peanut and guar in Texas and potentially neighboring states by breeding new varieties. Problems to be addressed are: (1) profitability of production and suboptimal levels of market acceptance due to seed quality factors, (2) decline in irrigation water levels in the West Texas region, (3) losses due to diseases and pests, and (4) the need for improvement in methods of making selection for needed traits. This project will work towards development of breeding lines and varieties of peanut and guar. There are four key objectives. (1) The first objective is improved yield and shellout in peanut, and improved yield in guar; in addition we will address seed-related traits of improved maturity, flavor and oil chemistry in peanut, and improved maturity and gum content in guar. (2) The second objective is tolerance to abiotic stress, namely water deficit and heat stress in peanut, and water deficit in guar. We will also collaborate in developing high-throughout methods of screening for tolerance to water deficit in peanut. (3) We will select for improved resistance to leaf spots, Sclerotinia blight, root-knot nematodes, and tomato spotted wilt virus, and guar varieties with resistance to Alternaria leaf spot. (4) We will develop and use single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) DNA-based markers as an aid in selecting traits in early generations of the breeding program. The goals are release of new varieties, specifically (1) release of varieties with improved yield, shellout, and seed quality traits such as maturity, oil composition (in peanut) or gum content (in guar). Likewise, we will (2) release varieties that can be produced profitably with reduced levels of irrigation, as well as identify additional sources of tolerance, and more-efficient methods of screening. (3) We will also incorporate improved resistance to disease in new varieties, and work towards making new alleles for resistance to nematodes available to breeders. (4) Finally, we use improved DNA-based tools for assisting with selecting for needed traits.
