Genetic Variability and Association of Late Leaf Spot Resistance and Productivity in Groundnut (arachis Hypogaea l.)

Large amount of variability was present for pod yield (PY) and resistance attributes like leaf are affected (LAA) and defoliation percentage (DF) in most of the segregating material of groundnut. The association analyses revealed the possibility of breaking undesirable linkages by shuffling genes through three way and back crossing designs. Higher proportion of desirable recombinants for most of the character combinations were observed in these cross categories. Single and double crosses were poor in giving superior recombinants. The non-significant correlation between yield and resistance indicated the possibility of incorporating disease resistance into the adapted cultivar without affecting the yield potential. But even in back and three way crosses frequencies of superior recombinants were considerably low revealing the existence of some amount of undesirable association between characters indicating the need for reshuffling of genes through selective inter-mating.