Inheritance of iron deficiency chlorosis resistance in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

Iron-deficiency chlorosis (IDC) is an important abiotic constraint affecting the growth and yield of groundnut in calcareous and alkaline soils worldwide. The present study investigated the inheritance of IDC resistance among four straight crosses of groundnut involving four IDC susceptible cultivars as females and a common IDC resistant male parent. The F-1's of all the four crosses were resistant to IDC indicating the dominant nature of IDC resistance. The F-2's of all the four crosses showed a good fit to the ratio of 15 (IDC resistant): 1 (IDC susceptible) and their behavior among the F-3's was as per the expected ratio of 7:4:4:1. The IDC resistance in groundnut is under the control of duplicate dominant genes wherein, the presence of a dominant allele at either of the loci results in IDC resistance, while duplicate recessive results in IDC susceptibility. This information would facilitate development of IDC resistant cultivars of groundnut.