Morphological traits as variety descriptors of Arachis pintoi

Arachis pintoi is outstanding in the present agricultural scenery for adapting well to varied environments andin view of its high yield of quality fodder. It is therefore used as forage crop in different countries. In the last 15 years, morethan ten cultivars were released in different countries; none of them is protected in Brazil. To protect a cultivar the minimumdescriptors of the species must be determined. In this study, F2 populations of A. pintoi were evaluated by the number ofbristles on the petiole, number of bristles on the basal and distal leaflets, length and width of internodes, length and width ofbasal and distal leaflets, and flower color. The objective was the determination of morphological traits for variety identificationof forage peanut. The performance of the F2 progenies was trait-dependent. The heritability of all traits was high, indicatingthat a great part of the variation observed in these genotypes is genetic. This reinforces the usefulness of these traits as varietydescriptors of forage peanut.