Selection parameters in groundnut

Abstract

Forty divergent varieties of groundnut belonging to the hunch and serai-spreading groups were subjected to preliminary evaluation in summer rice fallows and kharif uplands. Studies on the various aspects like variability, heritability, stability and correlations were undertaken, A selection index was also formulated and the superior, stable varieties for the two locations were identified. The varieties were found to differ significantly for the various characters like number of days to maturity, number of primary branches per plant, height of plants, number of mature pods per plant, number of immature pods per plant, number of pegs per plant, weight of haulms per plant, fresh weight of mature pods per plant, dry weight of mature pods per plant, 100-pod and kemal weights and shelling percentage in rice fallows. In uplands, the varieties differed significantly for the number of days to flowering, number of days to maturity, number of primary branches per plant, height of plants, number of mature pods per plant, number of pegs per plant, weight of haulms per plant, 100-pod weight, 100-kemal weight and shelling percentage. Pooled analyses were done for the various characters to determine the influence of environment on them. It was found that number of days to flowering, number of days to maturity, number of primary branches per plant, number of mature pods per plant, number of immature pods per plant, number of pegs per plant, weight of haulms per plant, fresh weight of mature pods per plant, 100-pod weight and shelling percentage were influenced by environment to various degrees. But height of plants, dry weight of mature pods per plant and 100-kemal weight were found to have stable performance.