Genetic Variability, Heritability and Genetic Advance for Pod Yield and Its Related Traits in F3 Populations of Spanish Bunch Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

The present investigation was carried out to estimate the genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance for pod yield and its related traits in F3 generation of four different crosses of Spanish bunch groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) at Main Oilseeds Research Station, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh. The mean squares due to crosses were significant for all the characters suggesting presence of large amount of genetic variability in the material studied. The analysis of variance due to progenies within crosses were significant for most of the characters except oil content (%) in all four crosses. Wide range of variation was maximum for number of immature pods per plant, number of mature pods per plant, pod yield per plant, biological yield per plant, kernel yield per plant and 100-mature kernel weight in all four crosses. The PCV and GCV values were low to moderate for all four crosses except for number of immature pods per plant. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as per cent of mean was registered for number of mature pods per plant, number of immature pods per plant, biological yield per plant and harvest index in AK-335 × ICGV-171024. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as per cent of mean was registered for number of primary branches per plant, number of mature pods per plant, number of immature pods per plant, pod yield per plant, biological yield per plant and kernel yield per plant in GG-35 × ICGV-06141. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as per cent of mean was registered for number of immature pods per plant, kernel yield per plant and 100-mature kernel weight in TPG-41 × TCGS-1694. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as per cent of mean was registered for number of primary branches per plant, number of immature pods per plant, biological yield per plant and harvest index in ICGV-171013 × TG-90 indicating that additive gene effects governed these characters and could be chosen as selection criteria for formulating breeding strategies in groundnut.