Assessment of groundnut mutants for drought tolerance during germination and early seedling development

One of the most important oilseed crops in the world, groundnut is challenged greatly with population increase and climate change. These elements make groundnut plants more vulnerable to certain environmental conditions, especially drought, which affects output of the crop. Breeding programs have been started to improve cultivars’ drought resistance in reaction to these obstacles. Therefore, this work was done to evaluate the germination and growth traits of three separate sets of mutants produced from two groundnut types, Kp29 and Fleur 11, under gamma radiation at different doses (100, 150 and 200 Gy). Aiming to find drought-resistant mutants, these evaluations were done under drought stress conditions using three polyethylene glycol 6000 concentrations 10%, 20%, and 30%. The criteria under study were germination percentage (GP), germination speed (GS), mean germination time (MGT), as well as the lengths and dry weights of roots, hypocotyls, and epicotyls. Our results clearly highlight the notable effect of resistance to water deprivation in seedlings irradiated at 150 Gy and 200 Gy. These early findings clearly show how gamma radiation could improve groundnut’s drought stress resistance.