The use of wild species in peanut breeding provides remarkable opportunities for introducing new traits to the peanut crop and it has increased in recent years. Here, we report the morphological and agronomic, including disease resistance, variation observed in 87 Recombinant Inbred Lines (RILs) that were derived from the wild ancestors of peanut and the cultivar Runner IAC-886. These lines exhibited a wide range of variation for these traits, with transgressive segregation and novel phenotypes being observed in many lines. Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs) for agronomic and resistance traits were detected. Six RILs with contrasting phenotypes for agronomic traits and moderate resistance to leaf spots were genotyped. All of the lines had, on average, 50% wild alleles, with at least one large wild segment and multiple interspersed alleles in all of the chromosomes. Genetic exchange between subgenomes was observed. On four lines, the top of Chr 05/15, which is tetrasomic AAAA in A. hypogaea, has been restored to its AABB state by the introgression of A. ipaënsis alleles. We identified lines with good agronomic traits while harboring genome composition and structure completely different from each other and from the cultivated peanut. The variation that is observed for the fruit type is also important for a better comprehension of the domestication process in peanut. This increase in genetic diversity has great potential benefits for the peanut breeding programs.

Due to the current scarcity of water, which may be aggravated by climate changes, it is important to develop cultivars tolerant to water stress. For this, information regarding the variability of the tolerance of cultivars to this stress is required. This information can be obtained by using phenotyping platforms, which allow a large-scale and automated assessment of crop traits related to productivity under water stress. This study took place in a greenhouse and used a phenotyping platform to evaluate some agronomic and physiological traits of two cotton cultivars with differing tolerances to this stress. The experiment was performed in a randomized block design, in a split-plot scheme with four replicates. The main plots were composed of five water regimes and the subplots of two cultivars, Acala SJ 2 and Auburn 2. The water regimes consisted of a well-irrigated treatment (daily replacement of 100% of evapotranspired water) and four water restriction regimes (20%, 40%, 60% and 80% of evapotranspired water at the well-irrigated treatment). The phenotyping platform and protocol (different percentages of daily replacement of evapotranspired water) employed were suitable to the evaluated cotton cultivars for water-stress tolerance, and allowed the determination of the cultivar most tolerant (Acala SJ 2) and of the cultivar most sensitive (Auburn 2) to water stress. ‘Acala SJ 2’ displayed better physiological and agronomic traits in all water regimes, including higher root density in the upper soil layer, as well as higher water use than ‘Auburn 2’, which explained its higher seed yield under the conditions employed.