Heritability of drought-Resistance traits in peanut

Abstract

The paper presents results from a case study on genetic enhancement of drought resistance in peanut using combined physiological and breeding methods. Peanut genotypes with high levels of components of a resource capture model, transpiration (T), transpiration efficiency (TE) and harvest index (HI), were used as parents in a hybridisation program. F2-derived families of peanuts from 4 crosses were subjected to trait-based among family index selection in the F3 and F4. In order to calculate the selection index, estimates of harvest index, transpiration efficiency and transpiration were obtained. Heritability estimates for these traits were estimated using 3 different bases i.e. broad-sense heritability on an F3 row basis, broad-sense heritability on an F4 family mean basis using variance components and standard unit heritability estimates using correlation among generations. The heritability estimates varied significantly between crosses and traits depending on levels of genetic variation in parents. In some cases the variation seems to be caused by errors in sampling method. Kernel yield (KY) generally had the best correlations between F3 and F4 (maximum 0.65), HI and TE were intermediate and correlations for T were very poor (one cross in one environment 0.56 the remainder not significant). Consideration of these differences in heritability and the costs of sampling lead to the proposal that a simpler index based on KY and TE may be a useful compromise for selection of superior drought performance in peanut. Use of an index including TE would prevent selection for decreasing TE when selecting for KY, where there are casual negative associations between TE and the other two components. Media summary: It is possible to breed peanut varieties that produce more yield from the same amount of rainfall by selecting for a combination of high transpiration efficiency and kernel yield.