Inclusive Market-Oriented Development (IMOD) –our approach to bringing prosperity in the drylands.

ICRISAT is a member of the CGIAR Consortium.

RK Varshney1*, L Froencike2, MK Pandey1, SN Nayak1, HD Upadhyaya1, A Rathore1, B Liao3, N Barkley4, B Guo5,

MVC Gowda6, C Holbrook7, TB Brenneman8, RS Bhat6, C Chen9, J Damicone10, MD Burrow11, T Isleib12, L Dean12,

ML Wang4, V Vadez1, S Jackson13, RW Michelmore2

1International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, India; 2University of California, Davis, USA; 3CAAS Oil Crops

Research Institute, Wuhan, China; 4USDA-Plant Genetic Resources Conservation Unit, Griffin, USA; 5Crop Protection and Management Research Unit,

USDA-ARS, Tifton, USA; 6University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, India; 7Crop Breeding, USDA-ARS, Tifton, USA; 8Coastal Plain Experiment Station,

UGA, Tifton, USA; 9Auburn University, Auburn, USA; 10Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, USA; 11Texas AgriLife Research, Texas A & M System, Lubbock,

USA; 12North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA; 13University of Georgia, Athens, USA; *Address for correspondence: r.k.varshney@cgiar.org

Financial support from the Peanut

Foundation and the CGIAR Generation

Challenge Programme (GCP) is gratefully

acknowledged.

This work has been undertaken as part of the

CGIAR Research Program on Grain

Legumes.

An international initiative to conduct comprehensive

genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for an array of

agronomic traits in peanut

Compiling, curating and analyzing scattered phenotyping

data on three important collections of the world (ICRISAT,

USA and China)

Population structure and linkage disequilibrium decay

using GBS genotyping data

Genome-wide association analysis for identification of

marker-trait associations (MTAs)

Data, results and molecular tools made available to peanut

research community

An international initiative has been started to undertake a comprehensive genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in three

different germplasm sets i.e. the reference set (300 genotypes) consisting of global mini core collection (184 accessions) of ICRISAT, the US

mini-core collection (112 accessions) and the Chinese mini-core collection (298 accessions). The phenotypic data have been collected for

22 to 50 traits including resistance to diseases, aflatoxin contamination, tolerance to drought and salinity, and several agronomic (yield,

100-seed weight) and nutritional quality traits in several seasons at multiple locations. This initiative plans to compile and curate available

phenotypic data, generate high-density genotyping data based on sequencing, conduct comprehensive statistical analysis, estimate

diversity features and undertake GWAS for traits of importance to breeders using all three germplasm sets. In summary, this initiative is

expected to provide: (i) sequence-based markers and haplotypes associated with traits of agronomic importance, (ii) accessions with

superior alleles for their use as donors in breeding programmes, and (iii) breeders-friendly databases for phenotyping and genotyping data.

Besides, the collaborative spirit of peanut research community will add momentum to peanut improvement.

Abstract

Acknowledgements

Summary Distribution of genotypes of global peanut

reference collection from 48 countries

GWAS analysis for marker-trait associations Germplasm sets and traits characterizedCollections Traits characterized

US minicore collection

Disease resistance Early leaf spot, late leaf spot, tomato spotted wilt virus,

nematode and preharvest aflatoxin contamination, Sclerotinia

and pepper spot, Rhizoctonia limb rot

Morphological

descriptors

Above and below ground descriptor data, U.S. descriptors,

percent shell out

Abiotic stress Tolerance to heat stress and drought stress

Fatty acid

components

Oil content, fatty acids, flavonoid, resveratrol, amino acids,

tocopherols, folic acid

Global minicore collection/ reference set (ICRISAT)

Disease resistance Aspergillus, early leaf spot, late leaf spot, rust resistance,

groundnut rosette disease

Oil and nutritional

quality

Oil content, oleic acid, oleic/linoleic acid ratio, protein

content, zinc content, iron content

Physiological

traits

Emergence, first flowering, D13C, leaf dry weight, leaf area,

specific leaf area, total leaf area, total leaf weight, SPAD

chlorophyll meter reading, leaf length, leaf weight, leaf width,

R/S ratio, rate of water loss, root length, root volume, root

weight, shelling percentage, shoot length, shoot weight, total

dry matter, total dry mass/leaf area, SMK percentage, harvest

index, haulm weight, days to flower, days to mature

Yield and

components traits

Plant number, plant height, pod length, pod width, pods /

plant, primary branching, pod weight, seed length, seed

weight, seed width, test weight, yield /plant, plot yield

Chinese mini-core collection Morphological descriptors

Plant height, length of first branch, total branching number,

number of branches with pods, leaflet length, leaflet width,

distance between apical and basilar leaflets, petiole lengthYield and component traits

Number of primary, secondary and tertiary branches, pods /

plant, pod length, pod width, seed length, seed width, 100-pod

weight, seed weight of 100-pod, 100-seed weight, shelling

percentage and pod yield / plant

Expected outcome

GWASLinked

markersMolecular breeding

Peanut improvement