Harnessing Genetic Diversity of Wild Arachis Species for Genetic Enhancement of Cultivated Peanut

Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important self-pollinating tetraploid (AABB, 2n = 4x = 40) legume grown for the high-quality edible oil and easily digestible protein in its seeds. Enormous genetic variability is present in the genus Arachis containing 79 wild species and cultivated peanut. Wild species offer significant variability, particularly for biotic and abiotic stresses, and can be used to develop cultivars with enhanced levels of resistance to key stresses. However, utilization of these species requires use of ploidy manipulations, bridge crosses, and embryo or ovule rescue. For efficient use of diploid wild species from section Arachis, several synthetics (amphidiploids and autotetraploids) have been developed using A- and B-genome accessions with high levels of resistance to multiple stresses. These synthetics are used in crossing programs with cultigens to develop prebreeding populations and introgression lines (ILs) with high frequency of useful genes and alleles into good agronomic backgrounds. Evaluation of two such populations derived from ICGV 91114 × ISATGR 121250 (a synthetic derived from A. duranensis Krapov. & W.C. Greg. × A. ipaensis Krapov. & W.C. Greg.) and ICGV 87846 × ISATGR 265-5 (A. kempf-mercadoi W.C. Greg. & C.E. Simpson × A. hoehnei Krapov. & W.C. Greg.) resulted in the identification of ILs with high levels of late leaf spot (LLS) and rust resistance and significant genetic variability for morphoagronomic traits. Genotyping of these ILs with markers linked to rust and LLS resistance provided evidence that introgression of possible novel alleles and resistance sources from different wild species other than the commonly used A. cardenasii Krapov. & W.C. Greg. will be beneficial for peanut improvement