A groundnut germplasm (268 genotypes) was evaluated in four trials over a period of two
years, under intermittent drought and fully irrigated conditions. Two trials were exposed to
moderate temperature during the rainy season while the two others were subjected to high
temperature during summer. The objectives were to segregate the components of the
genetic variance and their interactions with water treatment, year and environment
(temperature) for agronomic characteristics so as to select high yielding genotypes under
hot conditions and to identify traits putatively related to heat and/or intermittent drought
tolerance. Under high temperature 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. For the three traits, genotype by environment interaction
(GxE) was significant under well-watered (WW) and water stressed (WS) treatments. The
genotype and genotype by environment (GGE) biplots analyses revealed several mega
environments under WW and WS treatments indicating that high yielding genotypes under
moderate temperature were different from those at high temperature. The GGE biplots
analyses also revealed several genotypes with high performance and stability across year
and temperature environments under both WW and WS conditions. Regression analyses
indicated that among several traits measured during plant growth, only the partition rate
was significantly correlated to pod yield suggesting that this trait was contributing to heat
and drought tolerance and could be a reliable selection criterion for groundnut breeding
program for this stress
