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It was mentioned that the groundnut crop of the USA is still 80%
normal oleic cultivars. An interesting fact is that Georgia-06G is
the most widely produced cultivar as the breeder has the financial
means to market it. There are quite a few newly developed cultivars
that outperform Georgia-06G, but they tend to fall in the shadow of
its marketing strategy.
As the APRES Congress started to gain momentum, presentations
on every aspect of groundnut production and breeding were pre-
sented to the attendees.
Subjects such as the future of groundnut agronomic research, the
future of pest management, a retrospective look at engineering in-
novations in the groundnut industry as well as rethinking the scales
of measuring groundnut quality, were high on the agenda.
During the concurrent breakout sessions that followed, one had to
decide which presentations to go to. Between the two South Afri-
can representatives a wide spectrum of presentations was attended.
This facilitated broadening the scope of subjects covered as well as
information gathering and networking.
Some of the presentations that stood out were the focus on find-
ing nematode resistance as well as where America currently stands
with their breeding programme. The main discussion around nema-
tode resistance breeding was that they had to go back to basics as
the resistance was merely a tolerance to nematode infestation.
The aspect of crop rotation was strongly brought back into the
spotlight by Dr Tim Brenneman as a use for nematode control. Four
diseases that seem to be high on the list of problems are tomato
spotted wilt virus, white mould (
Sclerotium rolfsii
), Sclerotinia and
leafspot.
Extension officers are the link between the producer and the
breeder. Information dissemination as well as building a lasting re-
lationship with the producer, came up as focus points. Agronomic
production practices were also one of the topics that kept coming up
in each discussion.
The overall agreement was that production practices were even
more important than which cultivar was being produced. The focus
is on profitability and sustainability for the producer, but also on
the marketability of the product that is being produced.
Many friends were made and new information gathered during the
attendance of the 50
th
APRES Congress. Within the world-wide
groundnut industry many problems are the same with a little vari-
ation here and there. One thing that South Africa can be proud of is
the fact that the quality of our groundnuts still stand out above all
the rest.