Groundnut is one of the most important cash crops in our country. It is a low- priced commodity but a valuable source of all the nutrients. Groundnut is the sixth most important oilseed crop in the world. It contains 48-50% of oil and 26-28% of protein and is a rich source of dietary fiber, minerals, and vitamins. The production of groundnut is concentrated in Asia and Africa with 56% and 40% of the global area and 68% and 25% of the global production, respectively

1. Advances in Groundnut Breeding
Presented by
K . KRISHNA
RAD/19-27
DEPT OF GPBR

2. Arachis hypogaea L.
Annual legume
Self pollinated
Indeterminate
Genetics
Cultivated = allotetraploid
• 2n = 4x = 40
• A and B genomes
Wild = diploid
• 2n = 2x = 20 (66 species)
• 2n = 4x = 40 (2 species)
Botanically - Fabaceae
Culinary- nut family
Oil crop
2

3. Classification :

4. Groundnut at a Glance
 King of edible Oilseed.
 Sixth most important oilseed crop in
the world.
 Origin-Brazil
 Arachis hypogaea L.
 Allotetraploid , 2n=4x=40
 The term Arachis is derived from the
Greek word "arachos", meaning a
weed, and hypogaea, meaning
underground chamber.

5. Economic importance
backbone of agricultural economy
 Backbone of agricultural economy.
 Important source of dilatory requirement.
 It contains 45-55 per cent oil and 25-30 per
cent protein.
AREA PRODUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
INDIA 4.8Mha 9.2mt 1893 kg/ha
TELANGANA 0.16mha 3.2mt 2230

6. Types of Groundnut
1. Runner
• Runner type has uniform medium-
sized seeds
• 2 seeds per pod
• Uniform size of the seed make these a
good choice for roasting
2. Virginia
• Large green foliage and large
pods
• Largest seed of the four peanut
types
3.Spanish
• Highest oil content compared to
other types
4.Valencia
• 3 to 6 small, oval seeds crowded
into each pod

7. Present status of groundnut
Source: FAO and India stat
 27.9 m ha
 Production 47 m t

8. Botany of Groundnut
Its me
Inflorescence: solitary or raceme containing flowers in
the axils of cataphylls
‫ﻬ‬ Flower: Zygomorphic, sessile, looks pedicillte late
when peg starts developing (hypanthium)
‫ﻬ‬Androecium- Mono-adelphous
‫ﻬ‬Ovary is superior, small and conical with a beak-
shaped point at the tip

9. Groundnut an unpredictable Crop
• Pods are borne below ground positively geotropic we cannot predict its
performance before harvest as in the case of other crops. Further Ground
nut is highly influenced by environment.
• If there is no favourable environment yield alone will not be affected but
also the quality characters.
• Less boron means low shelling % and more of immature seeds
• moisture stress leads to lower yield as well as reduction in well developed
kernels.
• Oil percentage is also influenced by environment.
• Excess moisture leads to more vegetative growth and reduction in yield.
Compared to any other crop here. G x E interaction is more pronounced.
• Besides abiotic stress, biotic stress also play a major role rust and leaf spot
in diseases, red hairy caterpillar and leaf minor in pests cause major havoc.
• Seed multiplication ratio is 1:5. This is also one of the bottlenecks in the
spread of improved varieties.

10. Need to develop climate resilient Genetic
material? As well as to fulfil need of growing
population.
Source-IPCC Report 2018-19

11. Breeding objectives:
• Breeding high yielding bunch ground nut with dormancy
suitable for dry land conditions.
• Breeding varieties for quality
a) High shelling percentage > 75%
b) High oil content > 50%
c) High sound mature kernel (SMK)
d) Table purpose varieties
• Breeding short duration (85 days) varieties suitable for
irrigated conditions

12. Breeding methods
 Introduction
 Selection-1) Pure line
2) Mass Selection
 Hybridization-1) Pedigree
2) Bulk
3) Back cross
4) SSD method
 Mutation Breeding
 Genetic Engineering approaches
MAS
Genomic tools

16. SSD

17. Combination of SSD and bulk method

18. Combination of SSD and pedigree method

19. MAS

20. MABC

21. Phule Pragati is Pure line Selection from EC
94943 which is widely grown in MH
 Bunch type variety
 Matures in 90-95 days
 Yield potential is 18-23 q/ha
 50.7 % oil
Patil et al,1981

22. GPBD 4 Variety developed by Pedigree method
resistant to foliar diseases
 KRG 1 * ICGV 86855
 Infector row technique Used
 Pod yield of 3.87 t /ha
Gowda et al,2002

23. Aflatoxin contamination
 Aflatoxin is a metabolite of the fungi of the Aspergillus
species
 Aspergillus grows on the outer surface of the groundnut
pod and spreads inwards reaching the inside of the kernel
 Aflatoxin contamination discolors the kernels
 Damaged kernels are more likely to become contaminated –
harvest and post harvest handling and insect damage

24. Breeding Strategies for Aflatoxin Resistance
1. Resistance is effective only when the seed coat remains
intact.
2. The drought tolerance and resistance to damage of pods by
insect can reduce the extent of aflatoxin contamination.
3. New molecular techniques to develop resistance to
aflatoxigenic fungi/aflatoxin should be developed for
groundnut.
4. Use of wild species of Arachis for disease resistance.
5. The high level of resistance or immunity to aflatoxin must
be transferred to cultivated groundnut (Stalker and Moss,
1987).

25. Holding torch towards Seed coat resistance for
Aflatoxin(a game changing trait related to
quality aspects)
 Human health
 Nutrition
 Financial risk
 Trade prospects

26. integrated biotechnological approach for
pre-harvest aflatoxin management.

27. Permissible limits of aflatoxin toxincontent

28. Limitations of Aflatoxin Resistance Breeding
1. Complexity of nature of resistance.
2. Non-availability of any genotypes in which all the seeds
can be free from infection of the aflatoxin producing fungi.
3. No method is available for selection in segregating
generations.
4. There appears to be different genes in conferring resistance
to seed colonization at preharvest seed infection, and post-
harvest aflatoxin production. (Utomo et al., 1990).
5. When dealing specifically with resistance to natural seed
infection in the field, resistance mechanisms may operate at
the pod surface, within the shell, at the seed surface and
within the testa/cotyledons. This makes it difficult for breeders
to specify the particular resistance traits to which he aim.

29. QTLs are identified for Fresh seed dormancy
which is a major constraint during rainy season
 F2 mapping population - ICGV 00350 * ICGV
97045
 Genotyped with the DArT and DArT-seq
features
Vishvakarma et al, 2016

30. HIGH OLEIC GROUNDNUT VARIETIES
FOR FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY
• an important quality parameter, which
determines the flavor, stability, shelf-life, and
nutritional quality of groundnut and groundnut
products.
• Oxidative rancidity is common in oils with
high levels of polyunsaturated fatty
• High oleic groundnut varieties have a mutated
form of the fatty acid dehydrogenase(FAD)
gene.

31.  Due to the allotetraploid nature of groundnut there are two
homeologous gene sequences (FAD2A and FAD2B)
 These genes believed to originate from the two progenitor species
genomes—Arachis duranensis and Arachis ipaensis
 Mutations in either one of these genes leads to small increase in
oleic acid content of by over 60% (Nawade et al.,2016).
 However, the presence of both the mutant alleles of FAD2A and
FAD2B genes is essential for achieving >75% oleic acid (Pandey et
al., 2014)
 which have clearly been observed among introgression line
developed using allele-specific markers(Janila et al., 2016).

32. High Oleic Varieties Developed by MABC and MAS
Approaches can be Profitable to Farmers and Beneficial to
Consumers
 Same fatty acid profile as olive oil - even better as
higher in Oleic Acid (the good acid!) and lower in
Linoleic Acid (the bad acid!)
 Lower sugar and sucrose content versus regular
peanuts
 Possible anti-oxidant properties
 Potential to regulate appetite
 Reduce cholesterol and blood pressure
 Potential for disease prevention - heart disease,
diabetes, cancers
 Weight Management - lower Body Mass Index

33. Donar Parent-Sunoleic 95R
Recipient Parents- ICGV 06110,
ICGV 06142 and ICGV 06420
NIRS (near infrared reflectance spectroscopy) –
robust, non-destructive and rapid method of
estimation for oil, protein and fatty acid content
Janila et al, 2018

34. MABC also used to Improve Rust
Resistance
Varshney et al, 2014

35. Transgenic approach for Aflatoxin
resistance-A Ray of hope
 Antifungal defensins,
MsDef1 and MtDef4.2 from
Medicago sativa and M.
truncatula, respectively
 HIGS of aflM and aflP genes
from the aflatoxin
biosynthetic pathway
 Agrobacterium mediated
gene transfer
Fig.Showing comparison of
transgenic and non-transgenic
groundnut
Sharma et al,2017

36. EXPLOITING THE DIPLOID AND
TETRAPLOID GROUNDNUT GENOME
SEQUENCES FOR CROP IMPROVEMENT
• Availability of reference genome and high density genotyping
assay are the most important milestones for understanding
genome architecture, trait mapping, gene discovery, and
molecular breeding.
• reference genomes of diploid progenitors have been used for
comparative genomics, structural and functional genomics,
trait mapping, gene and marker discovery.
• ICRISAT has completed sequencing of Groundnut Reference
Set which is a global diversity panel and further comparative
structural genomics and association mapping is in progress.

37. INTEGRATED BREEDING APPROACH

38. Screening methods for different quality traits

41. Quality attributes of confectionary
groundnut for export purpose

42. Conclusion
Conventional breeding has contributed to
improvement of agronomic, quality and stress
tolerance traits in groundnut however there is
immense scope to improve breeding efficiency
(time and resources), accuracy, and enhancing
genetic gain with use of genomic tools.
Technological advances in genetic engineering
provide an alternative to overcome the
problem of aflatoxin contamination.

43. Future Thrusts
 1. The search for better sources of quality traits in cultivated
and wild Arachis germplasm need more vigorously.
 2. Stability in quality traits and realization / maintence of high
quality will be the main priority concerns for groundnut
breeders.
 3. Groundnut cultivars need to be developed that are resistant
to invasion by aflatoxigenic moulds and subsequent aflatoxin
production.
 4. Exploring the possibilities of the development of hybrids for
quality traits in groundnut