The evaluation of germplasm was undertaken at the farms of DGR, Junagadh. The soil of the farm is medium-black (vertisol) and suitable for groundnut cultivation. The rainfall is well distributed with an average of 660 mm. The collection represent all four habit forms of cultivated groundnut. The 775 accessions studied belongs to the four habit of four habit types as classified by Krapovickas and Gregory (1994) is presented below.

Genus Arachis
Species hypogaea L
Subspecies hypogaea
Varieties hypogaea
Habit type Virginia bunch (59 accessions)
Habit type Virginia runner (28 accessions)
Subspecies fastigiata
Varieties vulgaris
Habit type Spanish (481accessions)
Varieties fastigiata
Habit type Valencia (207accessions)

The number of accessions originating from various countries has been listed in annexure I.

Sowing was done in the month of June, 1998 after the onset of monsoon in a single replication, completely random design with grid plot checks. The sowing was done in a row of 4 m length, with row-to-row spacing of 75 cm and plant to plant spacing of 10 cm. Recommended agronomic practices were followed and the crop was protected against insect pests by spraying insecticides whenever needed. The crop was harvested in the month of October-November, 1998.

The collection was scored for various agro-morphological traits as suggested in the Descriptors for Groundnut (1992) collectively published by the IBPGR/ICRISAT. The qualitative traits included both binary (present or absent), ordinal (absent, slight, moderate, prominent) parameters. The quantitative traits some observations scored on plot basis and some mean of five randomly sampled plants.

The passport information on each accession has been provided for easy identification of the material and procure the accessions from various sources. The passport information is classified into six columns as detailed below.

Column Information Description
1 No. Serial number of accessions
2 DGR Number assigned by the DGR at the time of incorporation of the material in the gene bank
3 ICG Number assigned by the ICRISAT for the accessions maintained in the world collection
4 Name of variety Name of the accession
5 Origin Country of origin, Country code as given by IPGRI, Rome
6 Habit Virginia bunch (HYB), Virginia runner (HYR), Spanish (VUL) and Valencia (FST)

The passport information is followed by the information on 18 qualitative traits. The traits are arranged according to plant parts, recorded at various crop stages and one month after the harvest of the crop.

The passport information on each accession has been provided for easy identification of the material and procure the accessions from various sources. The passport information is classified into six columns as detailed below.

Trait no. Trait Description
1 Growth habit (at podding stage) (1) Decumbent 1, (2) Decumbent 2, (3) Decumbent 3, (4) Erect
2 Branching pattern determined on n and n+1 cotyledonary lateral branches (1) Alternate, (2) Sequential with flowers on main stem, (3) Irregular with flowers on main stem, (4) Irregular without flowers on main stem
3 Stem pigmentation scored at pod filling stage (0) Absent, (+) Present
4 Stem surface (Observed on the main axis) (1) Glabrous, (3) Sub-glabrous, hairs in one or two rows along the main stem, (5) Moderately hairy, three or four rows along the main stem, (7) very hairy
5 Type of inflorescence (1) Simple, (2) Compound (more than one peg/node), (3) Simple with elongated reproductive axis
6 Standard petal colour. (Colour of the front face of the standard petal) (1) Orange (5 A 7), (2) Dark orange (5 A 8), (3) Garnet (deep orange with garnet (9 D 8) markings on the petal)
7 Peg pigmentation (0) Absent, (+) Present
8 Leaflet colour (Colour of fully expanded leaf) (1) Light green (Yellowish green -29 C 8), (2) Green (Deep green-28 D 8), (3) Dark green (28 F 8)
9 Leaflet shape (shape of forth apical leaflet of n ) (1) Oblong, (2) Lanceolate
10 Leaflet surface (1) Almost glabrous, (2) Almost glabrous above, hairs below, (3) Almost glabrous above, hairs and bristles below
11 Leaflet tip (1) Obtuse, (2) Acute
12 Pod beak (0) Absent, (3) Slight, (5) Moderate, (7) Prominent, (9) Very prominent
13 Pod constriction (0) None, (3) Slight, (5) Moderate, (7) Deep, (9) Very Deep
14 Pod reticulation (0) None, (3) Slight, (5) Moderate, (7) Prominent, (9) Very prominent
15 Testa colour (one month after harvest) (1) White (1A 1) , (2) Off white (1 A 2), (7) Tan (12 E 4), (10) Rose (Greyish red 8 B 3), (10+1) Rose with white fleks, (10+2) Rose with Flecks of colour, (11) Salmon (6 A 4), (11+1) Salmon with white flecks, (13) Red ( 10 B 7), (13+1) red with white flecks, (14) Dark red (11 C 8), (16) Light Purple (14 E 4), (17) Purple (14 F 4)
16 Pod size (1) Small, (2) Medium, (3) Large
17 Seed shape (1) Round, (2) Fusiform
18 Shell thickness (1) Thin, (2) Medium, (3) Thick

* The code numbers in the parenthesis indicate matching colour as per the Methuen Handbook of Colour

The last three traits have not been suggested in the descriptors but were recorded for additional information.

The quantitative traits recorded l indicate the genetic potential of the accessions for various yield related traits useful for the breeders in selecting promising accessions for further utilization. The quantitative traits included following descriptors

The passport information on each accession has been provided for easy identification of the material and procure the accessions from various sources. The passport information is classified into six columns as detailed below.

Trait no. Trait Description
1 Days to germination Number of days to 50 % field emergence from date of sowing
2 Days to initial flowering Number of days to initial flowering from the date of sowing
3 Days to 50 % flowering Number of days for flowering in 50 % plants from the date of sowing
4 Days to maturity Number of days from the date of sowing to maturity
5 Height of main axis (cm) Mean height of main axis of five plants at maturity
6 Length of n+1 (cm) Mean length of n+1 measured from main axis to the tip (five plants)
7 No. of n+1 branches Mean number of primary branches (five plants)
8 No. of n+2 branches Mean number of secondary branches (five plants)
9 No. of branches Mean number of total branches (five plants)
10 Leaflet length (cm) Mean of 10 leaflets from different plants of forth leaflet on main axis
11 Leaflet width (cm) --do--
12 Leaflet length/width Length/width values of mean of leaflet length and width
13 Immature pods/ plant Mean number of immature pods present at the time of harvest in five plants.
14 Mature pods/ plant Mean number of mature pods present at the time of harvest in five plants
15 Pod bearing plants (%) Percentage of plants bearing pods
16 Pod mass (g/plant) Mass of dry and mature pods
17 Pod yield m-2(g) The mature dry pods calculated per m-2
18 100 pod mass (g) Mass of 100 pods selected at random
19 One seeded pods (%) Percentage of one-seeded pods from a random sample of 100 pods
20 Two seeded pods (%) Percentage of two-seeded pods from a random sample of 100 pods
21 Three seeded pods (%) Percentage of three-seeded pods from a random sample of 100 pods
22 Pod length (mm) Mean of 10 mature pods
23 Pod width (mm) Mean of 10 mature pods at the widest point
24 Seed length (mm) Mean of 10 mature seeds
25 Seed width (mm) Mean of 10 mature seeds at the widest point
26 Shelling outturn (%) (Mass of dry seeds/total mass of pods) X 100
27 Sound mature seeds (%) (Mass of marketable seeds/total mass of seeds) X 100
28 Hundred seed mass (g) Mass of 100 random seeds

* The code numbers in the parenthesis indicate matching colour as per the Methuen Handbook of Colour

The last three traits have not been suggested in the descriptors but were recorded for additional information.

The quantitative traits recorded l indicate the genetic potential of the accessions for various yield related traits useful for the breeders in selecting promising accessions for further utilization. The quantitative traits included following descriptors

The International Board of Plant Genetic Resources, Rome has recommended the following codes for countries for documentation of information in the gene banks. The name of countries from where the accessions have been collected and number of accessions under each group are listed below.
 
Code, Name of country and number of accessions characterized in each habit types
Sr. No. Code Country HYB HYR VUL FST Total Sr. No. Code Country HYB HYR VUL FST Total
1 ARG Argentina 2 1 15 0 18 24 MWI Malawi 0 0 5 0 5
2 BOL Bolivia 24 17 2 1 44 25 NER Niger 0 0 1 0 1
3 BRA Brazil 0 0 4 0 4 26 NGA Nigeria 0 0 8 0 8
4 BWA Botswana 0 0 1 0 1 27 PER Peru 2 1 1 42 46
5 CAF Cen. African Rep. 0 0 0 1 1 28 PHL Philippines 0 0 1 0 1
6 CHN China 0 0 14 0 14 29 PRY Paraguay 0 0 1 1 2
7 CUB Cuba 0 0 1 0 1 30 SDN Sudan 0 0 10 0 10
8 ECU Ecuador 0 0 0 1 1 31 SEN Senegal 0 0 12 0 12
9 ESP Spain 0 0 1 0 1 32 SOM Somalia 0 0 1 0 1
10 GHA Ghana 0 0 1 0 1 33 RUS Union of Soviet Socialist Republic 0 0 2 0 2
11 GMB Gambia 0 0 1 0 1 34 TTO Trinidad & Tobago 0 0 1 0 1
12 BFA Burkina Faso 0 0 2 0 2 35 TWN Taiwan 0 0 2 0 2
13 IDN Indonesia 0 0 3 0 3 36 TZA Tanzania 0 0 10 0 10
14 IND India 1 1 200 1 203 37 UGA Uganda 0 0 4 0 4
14 IND India 1 1 200 1 203 37 UGA Uganda 0 0 4 0 4
15 ISR Israel 0 0 2 0 2 38 UNK Unknown 0 0 32 0 32
16 JPN Japan 0 0 4 0 4 39 URY Uruguay 0 0 3 0 3
17 KEN Kenya 0 0 1 0 1 40 USA United States of America 13 16 35 7 71
18 KOR Korea 0 0 2 0 2 41 VNM Viet Nam 0 0 1 0 1
19 LKA Sri Lanka 0 0 1 0 1 42 ZAF South Africa 0 0 3 0 3
20 MAR Morocco 0 0 1 0 1 43 ZAR Zaire 0 0 7 0 7
21 MDG Madagascar 0 0 1 0 1 44 ZIM Zimbabwe 0 0 48 1 49
22 MLI Mali 0 0 16 0 16 45 ZMB Zambia 0 0 1 0 1
23 MOZ Mozambique 0 0 2 0 2     TOTAL 42 36 463 55 596