The Directorate of Groundnut Research(DGR) at the Junagadh city of Gujarat is located at 21.31 N latitude; 70.36 E longitude; and 60 m (MSL) altitude. The DGR has been identified as the national repository of groundnut germplasm. The Centre has the following objectives related to the management groundnut germplasm.
- Acquisition of germplasm from various sources
- Characterization and evaluation of germplasm
- Maintenance and conservation of germplasm
- Distribution of germplasm
The objective of management of germplasm remains incomplete until and unless the collection is evaluated for various desirable traits to assess the genetic potential of the resources. It is also equally important to permeate the information generated to user agencies to identify and select the specific accessions for utilization. Hence, it is indispensable for crop improvement to evaluate the available germplasm to identify the superior and desirable genes and make the information to percolate to the crop improvement workers to exploit the genetic potential in desired direction. A wide spectrum of variability is harbored over years for characterization and utilization.
The centre collaborates with the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, India which is the world repository of groundnut.
The characterization of collection has been done with the following objectives
- to select and identify accesions having specific traits
- to identify duplicates in the collection
- to create a core collection
- to identify the gaps in the working collection
The information generated through evaluation and characterization by the Centre is disseminated from time to time through evaluation catalogues to the agricultural universities and other institutes engaged in groundnut research. The Centre has been accredited as one of the National Active Germplasm Sites under the Indian Plant Genetic Resources System (INPGRS) and the activities being monitored by the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (N.B.P.G.R.), New Delhi.
Variation in the primary genepool of groundnut at the morphological level is well known. Many morpho-variant types have been produced over the period of domestication. Similarly, it has given rise to continuous and discontinuous variation for agronomic traits. This catalogue is a part of a continuous process of providing information on germplasm maintained at DGR for the benefit of groundnut researchers