Registration of GP‐VT NC 01 Peanut Germplasm

GP-VT NC 01 (Reg. no. GP-238, PI 691613) is a virginia-type peanut (Arachis hypogaea L. subsp. hypogaea var. hypogaea) with good agronomic characteristics and improved drought tolerance. GP-VT NC 01 was tested under the experimental designation N05006. Replicated yield tests started in the F-6 generation in North Carolina in 2005. From 2008 through 2010, GP VT NC 01 was tested in replicated trials in the Peanut Variety and Quality Evaluation, multistate project S1038, in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. In 2013 and 2014, GP-VT NC 01 was tested in the field at the Tidewater Agricultural Research and Experiment Station in Suffolk, VA, under rain exclusion shelters with controlled water regimes ranging from optimum soil moisture to severe drought. In these tests, GP-VT NC 01 was compared with the current cultivars grown in Virginia and the Carolinas-'Bailey', 'Sugg', 'Sullivan', and Wynne'-and a drought-tolerant species derived germplasm line (GP-NC WS17). Under "normal" weather, in rain fed production, GP-VT NC 01 had similar yield to Bailey and Sugg and significantly better yield than Sullivan or Wynne. Extra-large kernels content was least, although not significantly smaller than Sullivan and Wynne. No significant differences in sound mature kernels were noted among the cultivars tested. However, during dry and hot years, and under drought-controlled conditions, the yield of GP-VT NC 01 was significantly higher than that of the other cultivars tested. Thus, the release of GP-VT NC 01 provides producers with a profitable option that will perform well under drought stress.