Organography of greenhouse and field accessions of wild Arachisspecies (section Arachis)

ABSTRACT Peanut or groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is a globally important oilseed crop, with important nutritional qualities, and a rich source of amino acids and protein. Another 80 species have been described in the genus Arachis, 64 of which are found in Brazil, and even though their morphology and agronomic traits remain largely unknown, they have been cultivated for forage and for landscaping and have great potential for breeding with cultivated peanut. Thus, the morphological characterization of wild Arachis species is essential for their conservation and use. In this study, we present a morphological and agronomic characterization of 29 diploid accessions of eleven wild Arachis species and one of the tetraploid A. monticola (section Arachis) with A and B genomes and determine their intra- and interspecific variability in greenhouse and field conditions. In total, 35 morphological descriptors were developed a priori from greenhouse accessions in the first crop year and used in field accessions in the second crop year. Significant differences in descriptors compiled in the greenhouse and the field support the use of different descriptors for different experimental conditions. PCA analysis showed that the distribution of accessions accorded with the taxonomy of species. The ten morphological descriptors that were important in differentiating section Arachis accessions were seed length, lateral branch length, right apical leaflet length, right apical leaflet width, height and diameter of main stem, branch color, standard petal base color, number of flowers, and presence of bristles on rachis.