Tomato spotted wilt virus resistance among high and normal O/L ratio peanut cultivars with and without irrigation

In recent years, several high oleic (0) and low linoleic (L) fatty acid ratio peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) cultivars with varying levels of disease resistance have been developed and released for commercial production. Improved disease resistance has become of even greater importance, particularly resistance to tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) which causes spotted wilt disease in peanut. The objective of this study was to compare these high and normal O/L ratio peanut cultivars with and without irrigation for yield and TSWV resistance. For three consecutive years (1997-1999) the normal O/L ratio cultivar 'Georgia Green' and the high O/L ratio cultivar 'Georgia Hi-O/L' were found to have the highest pod yield, and a comparably high level of resistance to TSWV when compared to 11 other cultivars with and without irrigation. Georgia Hi-O/L was also found to have a significantly higher O/L ratio than the other high and normal O/L ratio cultivars for improved peanut oil quality both with and without irrigation. In general, irrigation appeared to increase expression of plant symptoms for TSWV disease incidence and bad little effect upon O/L ratios among the 13 peanut cultivars evaluated. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.