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Peanut Seed Varieties
 PCA can supply peanut seed varieties to Australian
commercial peanut producers.
However growers should contact PCA for advice regarding which varieties
may best suit their farming systems.
Variety Improvement Program
PCA is the lead agency for the Australian Peanut Breeding and Introduction
Program.
This project is based in Kingaroy and is jointly funded by PCA, DEEDI (formerly
Queensland DPI&F) and the Grains Research Development Corporation (GRDC).
It aims to breed and introduce new peanut varieties suitable for production systems throughout Queensland and the Northern Territory. In July 2007, PCA took over the leadership of the peanut breeding program from the QDPI&F which had operated the program from about 1977. The new joint project allows progression of advanced breeding lines from the QDPI&F program as well as the range of US varieties which have been introduced into Australia by PCA over the past decade. PCA runs the breeding trials (crossing, early generation selection for yield and quality traits) at Kingaroy and Bundaberg. Screening for foliar diseases including leaf rust, leaf spot and net blotch and soil diseases including CBR are conducted at the DEEDI's Kairi Research Station. Once enough seed has been bulked up from the early generation trials, elite breeding lines are tested in multiple locations in Southern Queensland, North Queensland and the Northern Territory. DEEDI are contributing research station facilities to allow conduct of the breeding trials on well rotated land, while PCA conducts a range of quality assessments to ensure the newly developed varieties meet strict market specifications. GRDC, which invests peanut grower research funds, contributes significant cash funds to run the program. In each multi-location evaluation trial, PCA continually makes observations about how each line is growing and developing. We then harvest and grade the crop so we can get a good idea about the variety's potential. The breeding program is concentrating on two maturity groups: full season types of around 140-150 days maturity and ultra-early types of around 110 days maturity. The main breeding objectives include:
Many promising peanut cultivars are tested but not all of them will make it into full-scale seed production. At the moment more than 70 lines are under trial for PCA.
Seed Bank
PCA recognises the importance of maintaining a diverse peanut gene pool for
future resistance to foreign diseases and future quality requirements.
For this reason, peanut lines are maintained because of certain characteristics
which the market may require - or in the case of future exotic disease outbreaks,
lines that possess resistance to these diseases.
Some smaller quantities of seed are kept which can be regenerated - but at a much slower rate - so the purity of the line is maintained.
Pure Seed Program
Those varieties which successfully prove themselves during the variety trials
are released for commercial production by PCA so that they can be made available
to growers in the future.
As well as supplying pure seed, PCA ensures peanuts supplied to growers are
coated with a seed dressing (a fungicide) which provides protection from
soil pathogens to ensure optimal germination occurs.
Current Commercial Seed Varieties
PCA can supply the following seed varieties to commercial peanut growers:
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