Evaluation and Characterization of Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Germplasm Lines Following DUS Guidelines

Crop variety identification is an essential link in seed detection, phenotype collection and scientific breeding. DUS testing is one of the important criteria to test varieties for distinctness, uniformity and stability. Effective plant breeding programme requires a basic understanding of the existence of genetic variability in a population. Evaluation and characterization of groundnut germplasm lines are important due to the increasing need for varietal development. Hence, in the present study morphological characterization of seventy six germplasm lines of RARS, Palem were carried out as per the descriptors provided by National Test Guidelines and UPOV for the conduct of DUS test. Out of sixteen characters under study, 2 characters were found monomorphic, three were dimorphic, nine were trimorphic and two characters were with tetramorphic, indicating that, all the characters were informative with respect to trait expression cum characterization. Based on the presence of wide variation in the groundnut germplasm lines, these can be further utilized in breeding programmes.