Measurements of Oleic Acid among Individual Kernels Harvested from Test Plots of Purified Runner and Spanish High Oleic Seed

ABSTRACT Normal oleic peanuts are often found within commercial lots of high oleic peanuts when sampling among individual kernels. Kernels not meeting high oleic threshold could be true contamination with normal oleic peanuts introduced via poor handling, or kernels not meeting threshold could be immature and not fully expressing the trait. Beyond unintentional mixing, factors contributing to variation in oleic acid concentration in peanut kernels include market type, environment, maturity and/or kernel size; however, the relative influence of these factors, and their interactions, is not quantitatively well understood on the single kernel level. To better understand these factors while simultaneously excluding variation from unintentional mixing, seed from a high oleic spanish cultivar and seed from a high oleic runner cultivar were carefully purified via NIR technology. The purified seed were planted in environmentally controlled test plots to analyze the progeny for oleic acid chemistry. Post flowering...