VARIATION IN A WILD GROUNDNUT SPECIES, ARACHIS-DURANENSIS KRAPOV AND GREGORY,W.C

Forty-two accessions of Arachis duranensis, a wild groundnut species t hat has been reported as a source of resistance to several groundnut d iseases, were studied for 30 quantitative traits including total prote in content, oil content, and reaction to groundnut rust. Protein profi les were also investigated for variation at the molecular level. Princ ipal component analysis was applied to 28 traits that showed significa nt variation. Of these, only five characters, namely, height of the ma in stem, length of apical leaflet on the main stem, length of isthmus between pods, width of seed, and reaction to groundnut rust, accounted for more than 61.4% of the total variation. Protein profiles of these accessions were broadly similar, except some accessions which differe d in few bands. The importance of these variations in strategies for g ermplasm collection and breeding is discussed.