Foreword

This issue of Peanut Science commemorates the 50th anniversary of the journal published by the American Peanut Research and Education Society (APRES) and consists of a collection of review articles giving the reader a state-of-the-art view of peanut research today. While we are a couple of years late in coinciding with the actual 50^th anniversary of the journal, I will note that it takes considerable time and effort to organize, write, and review this relatively comprehensive snapshot of the state of peanut research. This compilation of research focuses on production and quality research. The advances in research related to peanut genetics, genomics, and processing and utilization were captured in a recent textbook published by APRES (Stalker and Wilson, 2015).

In the first issue of Peanut Science published in 1974, Coyt T. Wilson authored the first article describing the rise of the American Peanut Research and Education Association (Wilson, 1974). There were ten other peer-reviewed articles published in that first issue covering topics such as yield trials (Coffelt and Hammons, 1974), disease (Abdou and Cooper, 1974; Abdou et al., 1974; Moore and Wills, 1974) and insect (Campbell et al., 1974) management, and engineering (Woodward and Blankenship, 1974; Wright and Porterfield, 1974). Peanut Science has been published continuously since that first volume and is currently publishing volume 52. There has been a total of 1,275 peer-reviewed articles published in the first 51 volumes and 102 issues, averaging 12 articles per issue. Topics in the published articles range from the laboratory bench to the field through the processing plant to the consumers’ cabinets. The articles published in Peanut Science not only reflect peanut research in the United States but included collaborative international research such as that supported by USAID (Abogoom et al. 2023; Achola et al., 2024). This body of research represents some of the best research that APRES members have to offer and includes award-winning research (Chamberlin et al., 2024; Pilon et al., 2024).

This special issue has been a long time in coming and would not have been possible without the contributing authors and reviewers. However, special thanks are due to co-editors for this endeavor, Dr. Chris Liebold (J.M. Smucker), Dr. Shyam Tallury (USDA, ARS). Their tireless efforts in developing the broad outline, securing lead authors, then continually prodding authors to complete their assignments were essential in getting this issue done.

Literature Cited

Abdou Y.A-M. and Cooper W.E.. 1974. Effect of culture medium and light on sporulation of two peanut leaf spotting fungi, Cercospora arachidicola Hori and Cercospora personatum (Beck & Curtis) Deighton. Peanut Sci. 1(1):11-14. doi: [: 10.3146/i0095-3679-1-1-4].

Abdou Y.A-M., Gregory W.C., and Cooper W.E.. 1974. Sources and nature of resistance to Cercospora arachidicola Hori and Cercospora personatum (Beck & Curtis) Deighton in Arachis species. Peanut Sci. 1(1):6-11. doi: [: 10.3146/i0095-3679-1-1-3].

Abogoom J., Akromah R., Aidoo R., Awuah E., Asibuo J. Y., Hoisington D., and Jordan D.. 2023. Genetic similarity from collections of seed for two peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) cultivars in Ghana. Peanut Sci. 49(2):34-40. doi: [: 10.3146/0095-3679-492-PS22-14].

Achola E., Wasswa P., Odeny D.A., Hoisington D.A., and Okello D.K.. 2024. Evaluation of the groundnut improvement network for Africa core collection for resistance to groundnut rosette and late leaf spot diseases. Peanut Sci. 51(1):32-44. doi: [: 10.3146/0095-3679-51-PS23-10].

Campbell W.V. R.W. Batts R.L. , and Emery D.A.. 1974. Suppression of the two-spotted spider mite on peanuts. Peanut Sci. 1(1):30-34. doi: [: 10.3146/i0095-3679-1-1-10].

Chamberlin K., Bennett R., Baldessari J., De la Barrera G., Cordes G.G., Grandon N.G., Mamani E.M., Rodriquez A., Morchetti S., Holbrook C.C., Ozias-Akins P., Chu Y., Tallury S., Clevenger J., Korani W., Scheffler B., Youngblood R.C., and Simpson S.. 2024. Discovery of a resistant gene cluster associated with smut resistance in peanut. Peanut Sci. 51(1):59-65. doi: [: 10.3146/0095-3679-51-PS23-6].

Coffelt T.A. and Hammons R.O.. 1974. Early-generation yield trials of peanuts. Peanut Sci. 1(1):3-6. doi: [: 10.3146/i0095-3679-1-1-2].

Moore L.D. and Wills W.H.. 1974. The influence of calcium on the susceptibility of peanut pods to Pythium myriotylum and Rhizoctonia solani. Peanut Sci. 1(1):18-20. doi: [: 10.3146/i0095-3679-1-1-6].

Pilon C., Snider J.L., Moreno L., Kvien C., Ozias-Akins P., and Holbrook C.C.. 2024. Genotypic differences in photosynthetic limitations to carbon assimilation under drought at the onset of flowering. Peanut Sci. 51(1):126-136. doi: [: 10.3146/0095-3679-51-PS1625].

Stalker H.T. and Wilson R.F. (eds). 2015. Peanuts-Genetics, Processing and Utilization. 498 pp. Academic Press and AOCS Press.

Woodward J.D. and Blankenship P.D.. 1974. Some results of storage tests on farmers stock peanuts. Peanut Sci. 1(1):34-39. doi: [: 10.3146/i0095-3679-1-1-11].

Wright M.E. and Porterfield J.G.. 1974. Some moisture related properties of Spanish peanuts. Peanut Sci. 1(1):25-29. doi: [: 10.3146/i0095-3679-1-1-9].

Wilson C.T. 1974. The genealogy of APREA. Peanut Sci. 1(1):1-2. doi: [: 10.3146/i0095-3679-1-1-1].