It’s three in a row for USDA-ARS Peanut Breeder Kelly Chamberlin. For the third straight year, she has released a new high oleic peanut variety for commercial production — this time, it’s Lariat, a high oleic acid runner type peanut.

The new variety is expected to replace Red River Runner, which was troubled by delayed germination.

Lariat “has no delayed germination,” says Chamberlin, who is located at Stillwater, Okla.  The new variety also has excellent resistance to Sclerotinia blight, a hard-to-control disease capable of severe injury to a peanut crop.

“Farmers producing runner peanuts in the Southwest will now have a replacement for Red River Runner that requires no fungicide application for Sclerotinia blight control, reducing production costs associated with disease management,” she said during the announcement at the recent Oklahoma Peanut Expo at Altus.

Lariat is a cross of Red River Runner and a selection from U.S. germplasm. “In advanced trials we saw no loss in yield or grade compared to Red River Runner,” Chamberlin says. Lariat also has excellent Sclerotinia and pod rot resistance. “Fungicide applications on Lariat showed no significant yield bounce,” she says. “We saw no benefit from applying fungicides, so we will expect to save money in production costs.”

BROADLY ADAPTED TO SW

She says the flavor profile is similar to Red River Runner, which was known for high quality.

“Lariat is broadly adapted to southwestern U.S. growing conditions,” she says. Maturity is rated at 140 days, 10 days earlier than Red River Runner.

With introduction of Lariat, the Southwest now has a high oleic peanut variety available in all four market-types. Recent releases include Olé, a Spanish peanut released by Chamberlin in 2014. She says Olé offers good yield and seed size, typical early maturity Spanish characteristics, improved yield over Olin, and improved Sclerotinia blight and pod rot resistance.

Texas AgriLife Research released TamVal, a high oleic Valencia peanut in 2014, and in 2015 Chamberlin released Venus, a high Oleic Virginia type peanut that is also resistant to Sclerotinia and pod rot.

“The high oleic varieties released by breeders in Oklahoma and Texas are developed for optimal performance in the Southwest,” Chamberlin says. “They are developed specifically to withstand the disease pressure, water availability, and temperature extremes that are unique to Oklahoma and Texas.”

If shelling companies make the options available, producers in Oklahoma and Texas will have high oleic varieties of every market type to fit a specific growing environment, she says.

Both states now produce high oleic varieties almost exclusively. “We have a goal of 100 percent high oleic varieties in the Southwest,” Chamberlin says. “That’s a good selling point for us. Industry prefers 100 percent high oleic peanuts for the U.S. market. “Producers now have more varieties than ever available.”

About 60,000 pounds of Lariat seed is expected to be available this year.