Scientists at UF and Georgia Institute of Technology have begun $1 million research to develop breeding techniques that allow peanut crops to withstand drought.
UF professor and study program director Diane Rowland said the researchers will observe the peanuts’ root systems, photosynthesis maintenance and overall stress tolerance.
Greenhouse trials are among the methods being used to test these traits, Rowland said. They will take the best performing peanut plants from the greenhouse and farm them, monitoring their water stress by remotely taking the plants’ temperatures.
“The techniques that we develop could be utilized by others to build on for future improvements,” said UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Science agronomist Barry Tillman.
The United States Department of Agriculture announced the project last week, Tillman said. It will be funding both UF and GT’s efforts.
By the end of the three-year research period, the crops will be used in a breeding program, Tillman said. These crops will cover 50 acres of land at the North Florida Research and Education Center in Marianna and the Plant Science Research and Education Unit in Citra, Florida.
Rowland hopes the project will give insight to how other crops may handle drought and develop peanut varieties that can better handle water scarcity.
Follow Dana Cassidy on Twitter @danacassidy_ and contact her atdcassidy@alligator.org.
Agronomist Barry Tillman stands in peanuts. “The techniques that we develop could be utilized by others to build on for future improvements,” he said.
