Assessing the genetic diversity in large seeded confectionery groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) and association among grain quality characters

Groundnut is a principal oilseed crop cultivated in about 24 million ha worldwide mainly for oil purpose. With the arrival of other vegetable oil sources, groundnut cultivation has to be made more profitable by development and promotion of confectionary varieties which fetches better price in the local as well as international markets. The present investigation was conducted at Oilseeds Research Station, Tindivanam during 2022 using 30 bold seeded groundnut germplasm to assess the diversity existing among the germplasm for confectionary characters, association of grain quality characters with pod yield and suitability of the genotypes for improvement of confectionery characters in groundnut varieties. Significant mean performance was noticed in T 64, M522, ICGV05174, ICGV06188 for pod yield/plant, kernel weight, sound mature kernel weight/plant and sound mature kernel percentage, while T 64, TPG 41, ICGV06227, ICGV06229, ICGV06214 had significant mean performance for 100 kernel weight. The diversity analysis grouped the germplasm into eight clusters with cluster II, IV and I showing more inter cluster distance with clusters VIII and VII indicating the diverse nature of the genotypes among these clusters. Cluster Mean analysis indicated the high mean performance of genotypes in cluster IV for pod yield/plant, no. of kernels/plant and sound mature kernel/plant as compared to cluster VII with sole genotype TG 4 having high mean performance for 100 kernel weight, kernel weight per plant, sound mature kernel weight/ plant and pod yield/plant. Among the characters, 100 kernel weight (58.2 %) followed by sound mature kernel weight/plant (21.1 %) contributed maximum for diversity. Character association studies revealed that kernel weight/ plant is the most significantly correlated character followed by sound mature kernel weight/plant and no. of kernels/plant in the positive direction. High direct effect of sound mature kernel weight and indirect effect of it via kernel weight/plant on pod yield was noticed indicating the emphasis to be given on sound mature kernel weight in selection of genotypes for confectionery purposes. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) indicated the importance of first three Principal components in explaining total variation.