Germplasm characterization for early maturity and fresh seed dormancy at morphological and molecular levels in groundnut

The present study was conducted to find out early maturing and fresh seed dormancy genotypes on the basis of morphological and molecular traits in conjunction with the high pod yield using 30 Spanish groundnut germplasm. Significant genotypic differences were observed for all the traits under study. NRCG 6255, NRCG 10732, NRCG 10907, NRCG 11020, NRCG 12365, NRCG 12366, NRCG 12463, NRCG 12467, NRCG 13223, NRCG 14344, PBS 16015 and JL 501 demonstrated an extra-early maturity (90–94 days). Genotypes PBS 16015, PBS 15014, Girnar 3, and NRCG 12446 were identified to have >21 days duration of fresh seed dormancy along with high intensity at both phenotyping and genotyping levels. Molecular screening revealed GMFSD 1 marker can effectively differentiate dormant and non-dormant genotypes. These identified accessions can serve as better donors in groundnut breeding programs targeting to meet the requirements to develop high-yielding, earlymaturing Spanish bunch varieties with 2–3 weeks of fresh seed dormancy.