Character Association Among Vegetative and Reproductive Traits in Advanced Generation of Intersubspecific and Intrasubspecific Crosses in Peanut¹

Character association studies among various vegetative and reproductive trains in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) are important, because of the subterranean nature of pod development. Ninety-seven advanced generation selections derived from intersubspecific and intrasubspecific crosses were grown under high and low fertility environments for two years at ICRISAT to study the association among sixteen vegetative and reproductive traits. Only weight per mature seed with most of the vegetative traits and mature pods per plant, mature pod weight, mature seed per plant, and mature seed weight with height of the main axis and nodes with pegs showed significant positive association. Reproductive traits were significantly and positively associated among themselves. Correlation and path coefficient analyses further revealed that selection for increased mature seed yield per plant would be possible by selecting the component characters such as mature pods per plant, mature pod weight, and mature seeds per plant individually or in combination.