Evaluation of genetic diversity in Spanish bunch groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

Abstract

An investigation was carried out using 100 genotypes of groundnut to find out genetic divergence. The material was evaluated in a randomized block design with three replications at the Main Oilseeds Research Station, J. A. U., Junagadh during kharif 2018-19. The observations were recorded on 11 characters viz., days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height (cm), number of primary branches per plant, number of mature pods per plant, number of immature pods per plant, kernel yield per plant (g), pod yield per plant (g), biological yield per plant (g), oil content (%) and harvest index (%). The 100 genotypes were grouped into 9 clusters by Mahanobis’s D2-statistic. Among them, cluster II contained the maximum 28 genotypes and the minimum 2 genotypes in clusters VIII. The maximum inter-cluster distance was found between clusters V and VI followed by that between clusters I and VI, V and VI. It is advisable to attempt crossing of the genotypes from cluster VI with the genotypes of cluster VIII as well as I and V and IV, which may lead to broad spectrum of favorable genetic variability for yield improvement in groundnut.