WGroundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is one of the world’s most important legumes. Groundnut provides one of the largest sources of edible oils proteins and also rich source of vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, flavonoids and isoflavonoids and commonly called as poor man’s nut. Drought is one of the major factors for groundnut as it is grown in the areas where there is less rainfall. This investigation was conducted to study the physiological parameters in association with groundnut yield under drought with four genotypes namely CO 7, COGn 4, TMV 7, TMVGn 13. Drought was imposed at Pre flowering stage 15-30 DAS by withholding water and control was also maintained with irrigation to field capacity for comparison. Physiological parameters like leaf area, chlorophyll Index, photosynthetic rate, were high in pre-flowering drought recovery plants of CO 7 which contributes to higher pod yield (21.18 %) compared to control plants. In this study the effects of soil moisture deficit on groundnut have been extensively studied and it has been concluded that water stress at pre flowering stage increases the yield.
Key Words: Groundnut, Pre flowering drought, Physiological parameters, Pod yield