Juliet Chu works with Dr.Peggy Ozias-Akins and Dr. Corley Holbrook on peanut genetic breeding. The research they are currently conducting is on the host resistance for white mold. White mold is a fungal pathogen that has a large economic impact on peanut production. White mold attacks the stem and laterals of the peanut plant in the area where this fungal pathogen exists. So, when the fungus attacks the plant, it causes the stem to turn brown and eventually leads to plant death. If the plant the fungal pathogen attacks in a later stage of the plant’s life, then it can also attack the pods.
So, if this fungal pathogen exists and impacts the field, it could either kill the plant or make the seeds in the pods disappear because of the fungus. It will use up all the seed and will leave growers with no yield. To solve this problem, growers can use chemical treatment, but to treat the field with chemicals, you need to do fumigation. It is very costly to do. Another way to convey this particular pathogen is to develop resistant cultivar.
So how they are doing that is by first planting Georgia-12Y, which is a resistant cultivar. Then they interspersed their breeding lines into the Georgia-12Y, and then the canopy provides moisture and humidity for the fungal development. The lines then will be inoculated with the white mold culture by Dr. Tim Brenneman and then you will see that about 40 to 50 days or 30 to 50 days after inoculation we which line is resistant and which line is not. The reason lines could be either released or used for breeding program.