Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This project's goal is to provide a multidisciplinary assessment of the potential for southeastern farmers to participate in a global peanut oil market for sustainable profitability. The approach includes the use of advanced breeding techniques, consideration of oil production from both high oil and edible varieties with aflatoxin contamination, and field, greenhouse and laboratory studies. The project is in response to interest expressed by growers for expanded marketing options, especially in high aflatoxin years. Specific objectives include:1) Screening high oil germplasm for suitability in SE dryland and irrigated conditions, making hybridizations to develop germplasm with increased oil, 2) quantify oil acquisition during pod development, 3) determine agronomic management best practices to increase oil yield from newly identified and existing edible peanut varieties, and 4) utilize data from objectives 1-3 to provide an economic assessment of profitability under various drought and aflatoxin contamination scenarios and the feasibility of oil versus edible market production.The combination of advancing high oil concentration peanut breeding lines, determining the point at which oil concentration is maximized in kernel development, and finding management practices that will allow crop maturity to match the greatest percentage of pods at maximum oil concentration will aid in US peanuts being more competitive in the vast global peanut oil market. Biodiesel and meal production costs and value will be included in the economic analysis.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
33%
Applied
33%
Developmental
34%
Goals / Objectives
Ultimately, we aim to support the US peanut industry by taking a systems-based approach to assess the potential for peanut growers in the southeastern US to participate in the global peanut oil market through multiple pathways. Pathways will include the harvest and crushing of aflatoxin-contaminated edible peanut crops and the intentional planting and agronomic management of high oil varieties not currently grown in the region. We expect to develop a body of information and resources that can be leveraged by peanut growers and industry stakeholders to guide us toward a future of sustainable profitability and participation in the global peanut oil market. We intend to achieve this by addressing our four primary objectives: (1) Development and release of improved, high oil percentage, runner market-type peanut germplasm that is adapted to the unique growing conditions of the southeastern US. (2) Developing an understanding of how and when oil accumulates in peanut seeds during pod formation under controlled growing conditions. (3) Testing these hypotheses in the field to develop strategies for maximizing oil yield at the field level. (4) Determine the profitability of growing peanuts for oil in the southeastern US and establish levels of drought and aflatoxin contamination where production of peanuts for oil is the most profitable option.
Project Methods
Objective 1Germplasm lines requested from the USDA National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) collection were planted at TyTy, GA for evaluation. Approximately 20 seeds of each germplasm line were planted by hand in observation plots for seed increase and early evaluation. Lines were visually evaluated for seedling vigor, mid-season resistance to TSWV at 70 DAP, late-season TSWV resistance at 120 DAP, and for individual plant yield potential in the first year. Oil concentration will be measured on seeds harvested from individual plants using a high throughput seed sorter with NIR and RGB cameras, QSorter (QualySense, Glattbrugg, Switzerland).The high oil germplasm lines will be evaluated for agronomic potential and resistance to key southeastern pathogens such as TSWV, stem rot, ELS, LLS, and RKN in the second and third years. Among the 30 lines evaluated in observation plots in 2023, several will be selected for making crosses based on their oil concentration and relative performance. Crosses will be made in the greenhouse with up to 10 of the high oil germplasm lines beginning in the winter of 2023. Successive generations will be grown in the field and selected based on disease resistance, shelling quality, yield potential, and oil concentration. The timeline for developing a finished, high oil concentration, runner market-type peanut germplasm line adapted to the unique environment of the southeastern US is likely outside the scope of this project if we grow one breeding cycle per year. However, it is possible to make significant improvements in oil concentration rapidly using greenhouse or winter nursery resources to grow two breeding cycles per year. Because oil concentration shows limited G x E interaction, we will make selections based on oil concentration for peanuts grown in Puerto Rico - as well as those grown in Georgia. Objective 2A greenhouse trial will be conducted for two years to address Objective 2. Three peanut cultivars will be selected, 'Georgia-06G' (Branch, 2007), along with a germplasm line with high oil concentration and a cultivar with low oil concentration. On a daily basis, immediately upon anthesis, each individual flower from all plants will be tagged with a different identification number for seed development tracking. Tagged flowers will be monitored daily. When the elongated gynophore tip is near the soil surface, the tag will be transferred from the flower to the gynophore to maintain the identification. Pods will be collected at different days after anthesis (DAA), 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, and 120 DAA, to track kernel oil to moisture ratio during seed development. We will collect a minimum of 50 pods per DAA. When pods reach the given stages (DAA), they will be individually collected. Subsequently, dry seeds will be run through a QSorter for oil analysis. Regression analysis will be applied to oil:moisture ratio along DAA. With these results, we expect to develop a progression curve for oil accumulation in peanut seeds from a standard cultivar (Georgia-06G) along with two additional cultivars, with low and high oil concentrations.Objective 3We are interested in learning the point at which the highest oil concentration is achieved before the concentration plateaus. Comparing this to overall maturity assessment will allow the determination of whether it may be beneficial to delay termination of the crop and sacrifice a small proportion of the most mature kernels to advance a larger proportion of the crop with greater oil concentration. Row configuration and plant density can be manipulated to change the number of pods per plant. Producing more pods early in the season near the crown and reducing the number of pods formed later in the season out on the vine will assist in optimizing oil production.Trials will be conducted at multiple research stations in the Southeast US representing different regions and soil types. Cultivars will be evaluated for high oil yield potential on an acre basis and adaptability compared to current released peanut cultivars. Agronomic practices consisting of cultivar selection, seeding rates, and row configurations will be re-examined to enhance the oil yield and to reduce input costs associated with production. A split-split-plot experimental design will be used with cultivar as the main plot, row configuration as the sub-plot, and seeding rate as the sub-sub-plot. Cultivars will include multiple commercially-available cultivars grown primarily for the edible trade with varying characteristics (including high-oleic and normal-oleic acid concentrations), along with high and low oil concentration cultivars or germplasm lines identified from Objective 1, dependent on quantity of seed available. Row configuration treatments include (1) twin row on 91-cm centers; (2) single row at 76-cm centers; (3) singles at 38-cm centers; and (4) modified diamond configuration on 91-cm. Seeding rates of 19.7 (current recommendation), 29.5, and 39.3 seed m-1 will be evaluated. Row pattern and seeding rate will be replicated four times in a randomized complete block design.Plant samples will be removed at 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, and 120 days after flower initiation (coinciding with approximately 60, 80, 100, 120, 140, and 160 DAP). Approximately 10 plants will be removed from all row pattern x seeding rate combinations for three of the cultivars in the experiments above (Objective 2). Pods will be removed from each plant and immediately shelled. Oil concentration and moisture data will be used to derive the oil:moisture ratio. Regression analysis will be applied to the oil:moisture ratio along with DAA. With these results, we expect to develop a progression curve for oil accumulation in peanut plants from a standard cultivar (Georgia-06G) along with two additional cultivars, one with low and one with high oil concentration.Objective 4Farm-scale profitability will be evaluated through a partial budget approach. Partial budgeting uses incremental analysis to determine how changes in production can impact changes in revenue and changes in costs, i.e. profitability. Partial budgets will be developed on the various scenarios and outcomes of the research trials conducted in Objective 3. Data will be collected on costs associated with the range of agronomic production practices or "systems costs" for each scenario (cultivar, row spacing, and seeding rate) with other costs held constant across the treatments. Yield and quality data will be collected from the research trial plots to estimate revenue. Profitability will be determined by adjusting the revenue by the various "systems costs."Beyond the farm-scale, profitability of peanut production for oil will be evaluated at different scenarios of drought and levels of aflatoxin contamination. Historical weather data will be utilized to simulate different periods and levels of drought and the resulting impact on yield and quality of peanut in those scenarios. Furthermore, an evaluation of different levels of aflatoxin contamination will be completed to suggest targets at which oil production is most profitable. Data will be collected on the difference in peanut prices paid by shellers and received by farmers based on overall quality grade (Seg 1, Seg 2, or Seg 3). Data will also be collected on the costs to convert peanuts into oil versus segregating and cleaning the peanuts until they are safe for edible uses. Data on oil and meal prices will be used to evaluate the difference in profitability between oil production versus segregating and repeated cleaning for edible use.