PHENOTYPIC CHARACTERIZATION OF THE PEANUT (Arachis hypogaea L.) GERMPLASM COLLECTION OF THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF RIO CUARTO

MARCELLINO N; STRUBE M; PEIRETTI EG; MÓJICA CJ; MARTINEZ CE; IBANEZ MA

Biocell

Tech Science Press

Lugar: Henderson; Año: 2021 vol. 45 p. 102 - 102

0327-9545

Argentina is the world?s leading exporter of edible peanuts and the second largest exporter of peanut oil, being worldwide recognized for the quality of the grain that produces. Germplasm collections are a reservoir of potentially useful genes for research and genetic improvement. Most peanut breeding programs aim to improve the genetic potential for quantitative traits. The use of a small number of populations, lines and/or obsolete cultivars in breeding programs leads to a varieties pool with narrow genetic base. It is essential to detect and incorporate genes from germplasm with high variability to make more efficient the improvement from agronomic traits of interest. However, the available germplasm in genebanks remains still largely unexplored, therefore the use in breeding programs is limited. The objectives of this study were to phenotypically characterize the peanut germplasm collection of the UNRC genebank and to determine the relationship between accessions, between traits and between accessions and traits. Seventy-nine accessions were evaluated by 17 descriptors under the field conditions from Río Cuarto (Córdoba, Argentine), during the 2018/19 crop season. For the characterization, the list of peanut descriptors suggested by the IBPGR-ICRISAT was partially used. Coefficient of variation showed variability within the collection, corresponding the highest values to the stem, fruit, and seed traits. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the first three components explained 70% of the variation for the quantitative plant attributes. The traits that explain the greater variation in PCA include both leaf and plant morphological descriptors and maturity, fruit, and seed descriptors. Cluster analysis resulted in a dendrogram where the accessions are grouped into two main groups. This research work showed a wide variation for the evaluated traits, at the same time that it allowed to identify potential parental genotypes for the development of new advanced commercial cultivars.