Shell and Seed Size Relationships in Peanuts1

Abstract

Three crosses and their reciprocals between peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) genotypes differing in pod and seed sizes were made to investigate relationships between the pericarp (shell) and seed. Length, width, and weight of the fruit and seed from the F1 generation and selfed parentals were compared. The F2 generation along with plants from the parental lines were grown in the field. The weight, width, and volume of dried fruits and seeds, as well as shell thickness, were obtained from samples of 30 visually mature pods from each plant. Density of fruits and seeds, internal pericarp color, and shelling percentage were also recorded.Length, width, and weight of the F1 seeds tended to be similar to the selfed seeds from the same plants, showing possible maternal influence. The wide distribution in fruit volume obtained among F2 plants is indicative of quantitative inheritance. The larger the difference in fruit and seed size between the parents, the more pronounced was the skewness of the size distributions of the progeny toward the smaller parent. Estimates of pheno-typic correlations for fruit and seed volume were high and positive in most cases. However, fruit density vs fruit volume correlations were essentially negative suggesting that seeds grown inside pods with genetically smaller cavities may be compacted by the shell.