Wild peanut species may have DNA that can provide keys to improved stress tolerance, higher yield, and better quality for domestic varieties, says Charles Simpson, whose 48-year career as a Texas A&M AgriLife research plant breeder has been devoted to looking for specific genes in wild peanuts to make domestic varieties better.
In many of those years, he spent several months at a time in South America, where peanuts originated, searching for new, undescribed wild peanuts, and identifying genetic traits that allow them to thrive in climates as varied as the sub-Amazon rain forest or elevations as high as 2,000 meters (6,561 feet) above sea level, and in seasons of heavy rainfall or as dry as a West Texas drought.
Simpson, who has worked closely with peanut researchers all over the world, recently mourned the loss of close friend and colleague, Ing. Antonio Krapovickas, an Argentine botanist with whom he spent countless days bouncing over rutted roadways and many nights hunkered down by a campfire discussing peanuts, theories, and life in general.
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Although he officially retired several years ago, Simpson’s schedule tells a different story. He continues to work in his laboratory and greenhouses at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Stephenville, where he maintains a collection of wild peanut species. He crosses some of them with domestic varieties, looking for traits that will make peanuts more drought tolerant, disease resistant, and/or productive.
So far, 81 wild peanut species and only one cultivated species have been described. Simpson has co-authored descriptions for 20 of the wild species.
