CROP WILD RELATIVES

Groundnut, an important crop of many countries of the world, is susceptible to a range of diseases and pests. High levels of resistances are not available in the cultivated gene pool as the crop is said to have a narrow genetic base. Narrow genetic base is attributed to the evolution of the crop which took place by the combination of A and B genome species, and later doubling their chromosome number, giving rise to tetraploid cultivated groundnut. Direct utilization of cross-compatible wild relatives, which are diploids, to broaden the genetic base and introduction of useful traits, is not a straight-forward process due to ploidy differences between the cultivated species and wild relatives. Hence amphiploids and autotetraploids were created by not only combining the putative genomes, but many other A and B genome species, thus producing a highly variable population of tetraploid groundnuts also called new sources of Arachis hypogaea. This study describes the development and characterization of newly generated tetraploid groundnuts and the level of molecular diversity as assessed by DArT markers.