Character Association and DNA profiling in Groundnut

Master's Thesis from the year 2015 in the subject Biology - Genetics / Gene Technology, grade: 8.5, , course: Master of Science in Agriculture, language: English, abstract: Groundnut, the 'king' of oilseeds is commonly known as 'peanut' or 'monkey nut' or 'Wonder nut' or 'poor man's cashew nut'. It belongs to subfamily Papilionaceae of the family Fabaceae. It is a self-pollinating crop with basic chromosome number ten and genome size 2800 Mb/lC. Peanut is grown for its high amount of edible oil and a reasonable amount of digestible protein. It is the richest plant source of thiamine and also rich in niacin, which is low in cereals. Peanut is also valuable source of vitamins E, K and B. Groundnut kernels are consumed as raw, boiled, roasted or fried products and also used in a variety of culinary preparations like peanut candies, butter, peanut milk and chocolates. Cake left after extraction of the oil is an excellent feed for livestock. Vegetative parts of groundnut like leaf and stem are good source of nutritionally high quality fodder for farm animals. Groundnut is believed to be originated from South America. Peanut is cultivated around the world in the tropical, sub-tropical and temperate climatic conditions between 40º South and 40º North of equator. The crop is grown in more than 100 countries worldwide. The major groundnut producers are China, India, Nigeria, USA, Senegal, Myanmar, Indonesia and the Sudan. Groundnut is grown on nearly 20.88 million ha worldwide with a total production of 34.66 million tons and an average yield of 1660 kg /ha. Developing countries account for over 97 per cent of world groundnut area and 95 per cent of total production. India is the second largest groundnut producing nation in the world with an area of about 5.53 million ha with a production and productivity of 9.67 million tones and 1750 kg/ha, respectively. Currently, six states viz., Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Rajasthan accounts for more than 90 per cent of the groundnut area and production of the country.