Abstract

Bunch variety of groundnut is non-dormant in nature and pods sprout in the field if wet weather prevails at the time of maturity. Seed dormancy in groundnut is governed by multiple factors (John et al., 1948). As result a of hybridisation work a partially dormant selection, 'A. h. 6481 (progeny of a cross between 'Gudiyatham Bunch' and 'Native Tanganyika') was evolved in Madras State (Seshadri, 1962). Recently a new bunch strain TMV7 was evolved by pureline selection from "Tennessee White" variety which has seed dormancy besides high yield (Varisai Muhammad et al., unpubl.). Certain promising hybrids were isolated by Ramachandran et al (1967) which possess seed dormancy and this character was observed to be partially dominant over non-dormancy. Six out of 206 bunch varieties maintained at Bhavanisagar possess high degree of dormancy (Varisai Muhammad and Stephen Durairai, 1968). High yielding bunch cultures which have seed dormancy were evolved by hybridisation at the Regional Research Station, Tindivanam. An account of the yield performance, dormancy and economic attributes of the promising cultures is presented in this paper.

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