These reproductive structures are undesirable because they make a putting green's surface uneven. ARS scientists and collaborators at the University of Georgia in Tifton developed the grass. They will license sprigs of TiftEagle to qualified turf growers under an exclusive agreement aimed at ensuring the cultivar's genetic purity. In the Southeast, corn rootworms are among the most destructive pests of peanuts. Unchecked, they can cause yield losses up to 40 percent.
Growers use insecticides like chlorpyrifos to kill the pests.
But VG P11 peanut plants apparently have a natural chemical defense that make them unappealing and even deadly to the pest. In lab studies, up to 89 percent of rootworms died after eating a diet of VG P11 peg tissue. In field trials, VG P11 produced higher yields than NC 6, an older, resistant cultivar grown in Virginia and North Carolina. VG P11 produces large pods with high-quality oil. And this peanut's thin pink skin comes off easily, a boon for processing.