Abstract

This study aimed at characterizing the genotypic and phenotypic parameters of Arachis hypogea in different planting seasons. Seeds of twenty-two lines of A. hypogea obtained from both ICRISAT India and locally, were planted in two different planting seasons (Environments) in the Botanical Garden, Lagos State University. Planting was done on ridges using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Results revealed higher phenotypic coefficient of variation than genotypic coefficient of variation for all characters studied. The phenotypic data showed that yield per plant had a significant positive correlation with number of pods per plant (0.67, 0.71) and final plant height (0.29, 0.34) in both environments. It was also significant and positively correlated with number of branches per plant (0.31) in environment 1 (E1) and with stem girth at maturity (0.43) in environment 1 (E2). Genotypic correlation coefficients exhibited similarity in both the magnitude and direction compared to phenotypic correlation coefficients. All the characters studied showed non-significant genotypic correlations with yield, except number of pods per plant that showed positive significant correlations (E1= 0.65, E2= 0.64) with yield in both environments. The environmental correlation exhibited similarity in both environments at different levels of significance. Environmental correlations of yield per plant were highly significant and positive with number of pods per plant (E1= 0.95, E2= 0.96) in the two environments. The path analysis of yield showed that number of pods per plant had the highest positive direct correlation, coupled with high positive genotypic correlation; implying a measure of yield in groundnut.