Evaluation of Groundnut Germplasm under Drought and Heat Stress in Sahelian Zone

Abstract

Severe drought and temperature increase are predicted to be the major consequences of climate change. Groundnut is a major crop cultivated in the Sahel zone where water and high temperature stress are serious constraints for its production. Investigating drought and heat effects on physiological traits, yield and its attributes could significantly contribute for improving groundnut productivity and consequently the incomes of farmers. A groundnut germplasm (268 genotypes) was evaluated in four trials during two years under intermittent drought and fully irrigated conditions. Drought stress reduced pod yield up to 72 % compared to 55 % at moderate temperature. The haulm yield decrease due to drought was 34 % at high temperature and 42 % under moderate temperature. Haulm yield tended to increase under high temperature. Genotype by environment interaction (GxE) was significant under well-watered (WW) and water stress (WS) treatments. The genotype and genotype by environment (GGE) biplots analyses revealed several mega environments under WW and WS treatments. The GGE biplots analyses revealed also several genotypes with high performance and stability across year and temperature environments under both WW and WS conditions. The regression analyses indicated that among several traits, only the partition rate was significantly correlated to pod yield