Utilization of wild relatives in genetic improvement of Arachis hypogaea L.

Abstract

The chromosome complements of 12 taxa in section Arachis were karyotypically and meiotically analysed. In taxa with 2n=20 the arm ratio of the respective pair of chromosomes was taken as an independent quantitative character and statistically analysed by Mahalanobis D(2). Two clusters were formed, one represented solely by A. batizocoi and the other consisting of the remaining 11 taxa. This grouping was confirmed by canonical analysis. In the larger group of species, A villosa and A. correntina were closely related karyotypically and on D(2) distance, while A. cardenasii forms a distinct subgroup. A. cardenasii lacks the short "A" chromosome recorded in other species of this group, and A. batizocoi is no longer the only species to have a pair of chromosomes with a secondary constriction. The taxa with 2n=40, A. monticola and A. hypogaea, are karyotypically very similar, though there is a difference in the number of chromosome pairs with a secondary constriction. On the basis of karyomorphological affinity, especially in relation to marker chromosomes, A. cardenasii is probably one of the ancestors of the tetraploid species studied.