GENETIC DIVERSITY WITHIN THE SPECIES ARACHIS-DURANENSIS KRAPOV AND GREGORY,W.C., A POSSIBLE PROGENITOR OF CULTIVATED PEANUT

Eighteen accessions of a diploid wild peanut species (Arachis duranens is) were analyzed using morpholo,oical, intercrossing, cytological, an d RFLP data. Abundant variation was found for morphological characters and for RFLP patterns both between and within accessions, and each ac cession could be uniquely identified by RFLP pattern. Several plants w ere found to be F-1 hybrids between different accessions, indicating t hat intercrossing had occurred when these were planted for seed increa se. Patterns of RFLP diversity were found to correspond with geographi c distribution. Analysis of the number of RFLP fragments observed per accession indicates that additional field collections of this complex of taxa will yield additional genetic variability.