Commodities: Fieldcrops: Peanuts: 2007 Peanut Update

Peanut Cultivars for 2007

John P. Beasley, Jr.

There have been numerous runner-type peanut cultivar releases for the southeast USA in the past seven years. Some of the cultivars have not been widely accepted for one reason or another and seed supplies of those have diminished. For the 2007 peanut production season there should be sufficient quantities of the following eight cultivars.

It can become very confusing when trying to determine which cultivar to plant. Do you choose a cultivar based on maturity, disease resistance, seed availability, marketability, or all of the above? It is best to consider all of the above factors when selecting which cultivars to plant in 2007.

The following cultivars will have very limited seed supplies in 2007: AT 3085A, ViruGard, Tifrunner, and Andru II. Georgia-04S (a Spanish-type) and Georgia-05E (a Virginia-type) are recent releases from the University of Georgia and they will also have a limited seed supply.

There will not be any seed available of Hull, AT 201, ANorden, or DP-1 due to lack of interest or other factors (seed germination problems with DP-1).

Georgia Green will once again account for approximately 50-60% of the seed supply. AP-3, Georgia-02C, and Georgia-03L will account for the majority of the rest of the seed supply. AT 3081R, C-99R, Carver, and Georgia-01R will account for the remainder. There have been some problems with the germination of Georgia-01R and this has limited its acceptability.  It can be very confusing keeping all of these cultivars straight. To help simplify the comparisons, the table below will help with the most common comparisons. The table below does not include the seven new cultivar releases that will have seed only available for foundation seed increase in 2007.

*Maturity range is related to ‘Georgia Green’ (typically 135-140 days after planting). A plus sign (+) following the range of days means the cultivar is that number of days LATER than Georgia Green. A negative sign (-) following the range of days means the cultivar is that number of days EARLIER than Georgia Green. A “0” indicates the maturity is the same as Georgia Green. The range of days to maturity is relative and can be greatly influenced by environmental conditions all during the season. Always monitor maturity using the Hull-Scrape Maturity Profile.

†The lower the value in the UGA Spotted Wilt and Fungal Diseases Risk Indices, the more resistance that cultivar has to those disease problems.

In the table above you should be able to select a cultivar, or cultivars, that best fit a field’s production history. The cultivars that are more susceptible to tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) should not be planted too early or at a thin plant population. Cultivars that are more susceptible to leaf spot, white mold, and limb rot should NOT be planted in fields that have a short rotation (less than 3 years since peanuts were in that field).

Don’t plant late maturing cultivars late!
Late maturing cultivars such as Georgia-02C, C-99R, Georgia-01R, and Tifrunner SHOULD NOT be planted after May 20th. The fact these cultivars need a minimum of 150 days, and in most cases 155-160 days, to reach maturity means planting in late May or June runs the harvest date so late in the year there is a high risk that they will not reach optimal maturity. This means they will not reach maximum yield or grade potential. This happened in 2006 when we had several very cold nights in mid to late October that shut the maturity process down before late planted cultivars could reach maximum yield and grade potential.

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