30 Years of Progress in Peanut Breeding – How do 30-Year-Old Varieties Compare in 2026?

Authored by:  Barry Tillman, UF/IFAS Peanut Breeder & Interim NFREC Director

For the past several years, I have been wondering if tomato spotted wilt has “left our region.”  Of course, I know it has not, but we certainly have not observed the severe outbreaks in recent years that were more common 20-30 years ago.  This year, one of my students asked about planting some of our old cultivars intermingled with our new cultivars.  And voilà, we have the answer to the question.  The old cultivars like SunOleic 97R, Florunner, and C-99R have a lot of tomato spotted wilt symptoms (Figure 1, A & B), enough to see from the turn-row.  A big surprise to me was the large amount of late leaf spot found in Sun Oleic 97R (Figure 1, C & D).

Figure 1 – A & B 30-year-old peanut varieties show major symptoms of Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV) and also C& D Late Leaf Spot C, much more severely than modern varieties being grown in the same field with the same spray programs. This really showcases the progress made by Southeastern peanut breeders. Credit: Barry Tillman, UF/IFAS

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Yes, it is bad, and they have been sprayed with a very good fungicide program so Sun Oleic 97R is very susceptible to late leaf spot.  We usually don’t see that much leaf spot until then end of August.  Perhaps the most interesting fact is that the modern cultivars and advanced breeding lines planted all around these older cultivars are nearly disease free.  It’s a testament to the progress that peanut breeding has made in disease resistance.

If you’d like a first-hand look at some 20- to 30-year-old peanut varieties compared to our modern peanut varieties, plan to attend the annual Peanut Field Day on August 13th at the North Florida REC near Marianna (3925 Highway 71, Marianna, FL 32446).  We will start at 7:00 am with registration followed by field tours and lunch at noon.

by Doug Mayo