Auburn University has released a new high-oleic variety of peanuts, a runner-type that is drawing attention to the university’s young peanut breeding program.
It’s the first new variety for the new program, but won’t be the last, according to John Beasley, the head of Auburn’s Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences, who was a peanut agronomist at the University of Georgia for 30 years before moving to Auburn.
“We’re looking at sources from other programs, and our program will help to expand the genetic resources available in the Southeast,” he said. “This release certainly puts us on the map as far as breeding programs go, and we’re expecting many new releases in the coming years with different genetic traits.”