Comparison of Virginia and Runner-Type Peanut Cultivars for Development, Disease, Yield Potential, and Grade Factors in Eastern Virginia

Abstract

Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important crop in the Virginia-Carolina (VC) region. Virginia-type cultivars are preferred vs. other peanut types because of the in-shell and gourmet markets that evolved in the VC region around this peanut type. Reduced federal support coupled with increased production costs for the virginia-type peanut vs. other peanut types and recently higher fuel and pesticide prices are good reasons for farmers to consider growing other peanut types than virginia-type in the VC region. Earlier research suggested that runner-type peanut can provide yield, gross value, and economic return similar with virginia-type when grown in the VC region. However, direct comparison of runner and virginia-type cultivars needs to be updated as new cultivars become available. In this study we compared four runner-types with five virginia-type cultivars for plant development, disease incidence, pod yield, pod brightness, grade factors, and gross value in 2009 and 2010. In agreement with earlier findings, the results show that runner-types can provide similar gross returns with virginia-type peanut cultivars when grown in the northern VC region. Florida 07 runner and Bailey virginia-type, currently the most popular cultivars in the VC region, had high yields and gross values in both years. However, Florida 07 and other runners matured later and pods were less bright when compared with the virginia-types. Therefore, growing runners in the northern VC region may be challenging due shorter seasons and reduced pod brightness if peanut is used for in-shell markets.