Genotypic Variation in Roasted Peanut Flavor Quality Across 60 Years of Breeding1

Abstract

Abstract In developing new peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) breeding lines and cultivars, the breeder's primary focus is upon those heritable characteristics with direct, measurable effects. Flavor quality characteristics are heritable but do not have a directly measurable economic value, so they are often overlooked. Failure to monitor and evaluate flavor quality may lead to serious defects in new breeding lines and cultivars. Flavor quality data on lines developed since 1930 were examined to identify trends in flavor quality of the cultivars and breeding populations in the virginia, runner, and fastigiate market types. Virginia-type cultivars have trended toward poorer roasted peanut flavor (reduced intensity of the roasted peanut and sweet attributes and increased intensity of the bitter attribute). Use of the commercially successful cultivars Florigiant and NC 7 in the ancestry of new breeding lines appears to have reduced the flavor quality. Runner-type cultivars increased slightly in average sweetness over time, but there has been an increase in the variance of roasted peanut intensity in the breeding population since 1980. Introgression of disease-resistant germplasm into the breeding populations appears to have had a detrimental effect on the flavor of lines in the runner and virginia market types. Use of Florunner, a multiline cultivar with a superior flavor profile, as a parent of breeding lines has contributed to generally superior flavor in the runner market type. The gains possibly could have been greater had one of Florunner's better-tasting components been used consistently in crossing programs. The limited sample of fastigiate lines and cultivars in this study showed consistent improvement in the intensities of roasted peanut and bitter attributes. Spanish-type cultivars showed improvement in the sweet attribute.