Meiotic study of three synthesized tetraploid groundnut

Abstract

Closely related wild relatives (diploid) of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.), a (tetraploid), have broad based resistance to a range of diseases and pests. Direct crosses between diploid relatives and tetraploid groundnut gives rise to undesirable triploids. There are no tetraploid relatives (except A. monticold) which can be easily crossed to transfer desirable traits. Hence amphidiploids were synthesized by combining A and B genome of Arachis species and the autotetraploid was synthesized by combining two B genome species. Diploid and tetraploid hybrids were cytologically analyzed to study the relationship between the chromosomes/genomes of the parents. The study showed that in the diploid hybrids, pollen fertility varied but in the tetraploids there was good recombination between the parental genomes resulting in high pollen fertility.