Inheritance of Fruiting Node Number in Groundnut

Gene effects were estimated for the number of fruiting nodes on the primary and secondary branches in two crosses of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) by the generation means analysis at two locations, viz., Ludhiana and Kapurthala. Additive gene effects were important for fruiting nodes on secondary branches in cross 1 at both the locations and for both the characters in cross 2 at Kapurthala. Dominance effects were significant in both the crosses except for fruiting nodes on secondary branches at Ludhiana and on primary branches at Kapurthala in Cross 1. The additive × additive effects and complementary type of epistasis were important and could be exploited. Duplicate type of epistasis suggested slow progress through selection. The studies indicated the importance of epistasis in the inheritance of these characters.