Evaluation of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) varieties for drought tolerance under imposed moisture stress conditions

A field experiment was conducted to study growth and yield of groundnut as influenced by moisture stress imposed at different growth stages using rainout shelters under rainfed conditions during kharif, 2015-16 at Agricultural Research Station, Ananthapuramu of Andhra Pradesh. The experiment waslaid out in a split plot design with four main plot treatments viz., M1: Imposing moisture stress from 30-50 DAS (flowering to pegging), M2: Imposing moisture stress from 50-70 DAS (pegging to pod formation), M3 : Imposing moisture stress from 70-90 DAS (pod filling to maturity) and M4 : Moisture stress free condition and the subplots comprised of 5 varieties viz., K-6, K-9, Anantha, Dharani and Harithandhra. Moisture stress from 70-90 DAS (Pod filling to maturity) recorded highest pod yield reduction followed by stress from 50-70 DAS (pegging to pod formation) and 30-50 DAS(flowering to pegging) compared to stress free condition and thus suggesting that pod filling to maturity stage is the most critical stage. Among varieties K6, Harithandra and Anantha recorded pod yield reduction of 54.0, 53.7 and 49.3 per cent, respectively. K9 and Dharani recorded 39 and 39.7 per cent pod yield reduction. The study indicated that K9 and Dharani are drought tolerant groundnut varieties.