Peanut growers now have high oleic varieties with an added bonus of disease tolerance.

“We have a number of new high oleic varieties in runner and Virginia type peanuts,” says Todd Baughman, Texas A&M Extension peanut specialist at Vernon.

Baughman, addressing a recent peanut production seminar in Seminole, Texas, discussed some of the characteristics growers should consider in selecting a variety for the 2006 crop.

“Tamrun OL01 and Tamrun OL02 both show some tolerance to sclerotinia,” Baughman said. “These are the only two varieties in the runner market with any sclerotinia tolerance.”

He says the varieties “are not immune to sclerotinia,” but should be less susceptible than other varieties.”

Andru II, ANorden, Carver, and Georgia 02C show some resistance to tomato spotted wilt virus and “some tolerance to other diseases.”

For West Texas, Tamrun OL02 may be the best bet. “The 01 variety has larger seed; the 02 has smaller seed and should be a better fit.”

He says Andru II has not performed as well so far in West Texas variety trials. “We didn’t have any in the 2005 trials but the previous year it did not perform as well as other selections.”

He said ANorden has done well for a couple of years while Georgia O2C performed well last year.

Baughman said location of trials, perhaps soil type, may have affected variety performance. He said some varieties performed well in one location and not so well in another. A few did well in multiple locations. Baughman conducted 12 trials throughout Texas in 2005.

He said several new Virginia-type peanuts also show promise Early maturity selection include Wilson, Champ and VA 98A. Medium maturity includes Brantley (a new high oleic Virginia type peanut), Gregory, Jupiter, NC-7, NC 12C, and VA2.

Phillips, a late variety “may be a problem in West Texas,” he said. “We need to test them for another year or two to determine their fit in West Texas.”

He said most maturity data, however, showed no real differences. “We saw no breakout even with the early varieties,” Baughman said.

“With any new variety growers should always try a few on a limited number of acres to determine how they fit their land and production system,” Baughman said.

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