Abstract
A field experiment was conducted with four groundnut varieties belonging to Spanish and Virginia bunch habit groups, GG 2, J 11, JL 24 (Spanish) and TMV 10 (Virginia) to analyse their variability for drought resistance, growth and yielding ability under water deficit stress created at different phenophases. Moisture stress at flowering and pod development phases was found to be highly detrimental to leaf area development, dry matter production, pod formation and yield in comparison with stress at the vegetative phase. Leaf transpiration rate (LTR) and relative water content (RWC) observed under stress at the vegetative phase were reduced significantly. Correlations between LTR, RWC and yield and RWC and leaf area were positive and significant. The recovery of growth from stress was better after relief at the vegetative phase than at later growth phases. Varietal differences indicated that drought resistance and yielding ability are presumably regulated by different genes. The variety GG 2 exhibited developmental plasticity and performed better even under stress at any growth phase, indicating its genetic potential to combat drought and yield.