Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea), an important oilseed and
food crop of Andhra Pradesh, India is grown largely as a
rainfed crop during the rainy season. Drought is the major
abiotic stress affecting yield and quality of rainfed
groundnut in the state. Yield losses due to drought are
highly variable depending on its timing, intensity and
duration coupled with other location specific environmental
factors such as irradiance and temperature (Nigam et al.
2001). Thus the groundnut productivity in rainy season in
the state ranges between 500 kg ha-1 and 1200 kg ha-1
(Reddy et al. 2003)
