Farmers’ participatory varietal selection in groundnut: a case study from Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Seven Virginia bunch groundnut genotypes viz., VG 9902, ICGV 86325, ICGV 96217, ICGV 97115, ICGV 87846, ICGV 98369 and ICGV 98370 were evaluated in nine villages as mother and baby trials with local check. A detailed score chart was provided to farmers for ranking the genotypes. ICGV 87846 was significantly superior to all other genotypes for all the traits. A little early and synchronous flowering habit of ICGV 87846 may be the reason to escape the early drought. The produce of all the genotypes were exposed to the local groundnut traders for evaluation. ICGV 87846 the was most preferred by them due to its superior pod and kernel traits. The basic seeds of the farmers’ and traders’ preferred genotype ICGV 87846 were provided to the farmers to motivate the informal seed production systems. Hence it is evident that in the participatory breeding, new genotypes reach the release phase much faster than in conventional breeding and are better suited to farmers needs