VARIABILITY AND CORRELATION STUDIES FOR POD YIELD AND ITS ATTRIBUTES IN F2 GENERATION OF SIX VIRGINIA X SPANISH CROSSES OF GROUNDNUT (ARACHIS HYPOGAEA L.)

Significant differences were observed among F2population of six single crosses and parents for all characters. Plant height, number of secondary branches per plant, number of mature pods per plant, pod yield per plant, kernel yield per plant, haulms yield per plant and harvest index showed high estimates of GCV and PCV, heritability (broad sense) and GAM. The role of additive gene action seems to be significant in the inheritance of these traits. Pod yield showed highly significant positive association with number of mature pods per plant (0.541), SCMR (0.588), kernel yield per plant (0.981), pod width (0.682) and harvest index (0.832). Improvement in pod yield could be brought by selection for characters viz., number of mature pods, kernel yield, pod width, SCMR and harvest index.