Differences in Development of Oleic and Linoleic Acid in High- and Normal-Oleic Virginia and Runner-Type Peanuts.

A consistent, pure supply of high-oleic (HO) peanuts is important to certain segments of the food industry as it allows for the production of confections and other products with improved shelf-life characteristics. Peanut shellers have struggled with food industry demands for lots which contain greater than 95% high-oleic peanuts. Normal-oleic (NO) and HO cultivars of virginia and runner market type peanuts were grown during the 2012 and 2013 growing season respectively to investigate differences in fatty acid development between HO and NO peanuts. Fatty acid profiles of individual seeds from individual plants taken across the growing season were determined in relation to seed fresh weight. Fatty acid profiles of HO virginia-type seeds from the early sampling date of 78 days after planting (DAP) revealed oleic acid to linoleic acid ratios (O/L) of only 4.0 in the seeds of the greatest fresh weight. As the oleic acid concentration in many of the HO virginia-type peanuts reached 60 to 80% and the linoleic acid concentrations ranged from less than 1.0 to 10 % by the middle sampling date (106 DAP), the O/L ratios of most HO seeds were well above the industry accepted cut-off ratio of 9.0. A similar change in the fatty acids was seen in the HO runner cultivar. Increases in oleic acid and decreases in linoleic acid contents occurred in conjunction with the increased seed fresh weights. The data indicate that HO seed attain high-oleic status as physiological development progresses as seen in the changing seed fresh weight. However at the final sampling dates which corresponded to the harvest dates, O/L ratios of less than 9.0 were still present for the HO cultivars of both market types despite the fresh weight of some seeds being of potential marketable size. It was concluded that some of the perceived contamination of HO seed lots with NO seed could be the result of normal peanut development, especially in the virginia-type cultivar with the larger sized seeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]