Nutritional Variability Studies in Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

Genetic diversity is the basis of any crop improvement programme. Nutritional quality analysis of seed samples of 100 groundnut genotypes were evaluated for nutritional traits and showed that total carbohydrates, total amino acids, protein content and oil content ranged from 0.12 (g/g) (ICGV-99083) to 0.70 (g/g) (ISK-01-08-21), 205.80 (µg/g) (AIS-2010-9) to 541.60 (µg/g) (ICG-4726), 23.40% (TCGS-740) to 26.80 % (ICG-9657) and 46.20 % (TCGS-740) to 50.60 % (AIS-2010-7) respectively. Groundnut genotypes with high total carbohydrates (15 accessions), amino acids (14 accessions), protein content (18 accessions) and oil content (13 accessions) were identified. In the present study, it is clear that it is possible to develop high yielding lines with high quality traits with superior nutritional features. The parameters have indicated sufficient variability for different nutritional characters, so that it would enable the breeder to utilize appropriate genetic resources in the crossing programme to improve the particular character.