Author(s):

M Shankar, BN Harish Babu, R Gobu and Sheshaiah

Abstract: The present investigation was carried out in 49 groundnut genotypes to assess the nature and extent of genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance under normal and moisture stress condition in three replications in a completely randomized design in the vegetative phases. The observations on plant height, root length, root to shoot ratio, SPAD chlorophyll meter reading, relative water content, membrane stability index, number of days for flower initiation, percentage of wilted plants and percentage of recovered plants after re-watering were recorded to understand the drought tolerance ability of the genotypes. The results of the analysis of variance for all the characters studied were found to be highly significant in both the conditions indicating that the availability of enormous variability. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was recorded for majority of the traits. It indicates that the lesser influence of environment on the expression those traits and also shows that predominance of genetic factor controlling variability. Hence, early generation selection in this gene pool would be effective for the improvement of drought tolerance of groundnut.

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