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HERITABILITY ESTIMATES AND CORRELATION STUDIES OF EARLY MATURITY AND OTHER AGRONOMIC TRAITS IN TWO CROSSES OF PEANUT (ARACHIS HYPOGAEA L)

NAAZAR ALl AND J.C. WYNNE*

Abstract: Knowledge of heritability and correlation among traits is important in determining the effectiveness of direct and indirect selection. The objective of this study was to determine the potential effectiveness of selection for early maturity, and seed size, in two peanut crosses (NC 7/Chico and 73-30/Chico) byestimating the heritability for each trait and the correlations among the traits. Both narrow sense heritability and broad sense heritability estimates were fairly high for seed weight, maturity index, and pod length in both the crosses. Broad-sense heritability estimates were much greater than parent-offspring regressions and were biased upward due to nonadditive genetic effects and genotype x environment interaction. The results suggested that selection for early maturity, seed weight, and pod length could be practiced in early segregating generations. Correlations of maturity with shelling percentage were positive and highly significant in both crosses but correlation between maturity and seed number was positive and significant in cross 1 (NC 7/Chico). Maturity was negatively correlated with pod length and seed weight in cross 2. The highest positive and significant correlation was found between pod length and seed weight.

National Agricultural Research Centre, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Islamabad, Pakistan.

Director Research, North Carolina State University, NC, USA.