Heat stress During the Early Flowering Stage Did Not Affect Seed Fatty acid Contents in Conventional Oleic Peanut Varieties

Abstract

Short episodes of heat stress often occur in the early flowering period of peanut in the U.S. peanut belt. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether heat stress that occurs during an early flowering period will have long-lasting effects on seed fatty acid composition. Four peanut genotypes with varying degrees of heat tolerance were exposed to heat stress for a short period (2.5 weeks) at the beginning of the flowering stage under field conditions in 2018 and 2019. We found that a short duration of heat stress at the beginning of the flowering stage did not affect the contents of the major seed fatty acids that affect oil quality (oleic, linoleic, and palmitic acids) regardless of the heat-tolerance level of genotypes. If stress is removed at the time of seed filling, seed fatty acid composition seems to be unaffected. However, stress during flowering can decrease pod and seed numbers, which will affect yield.