New Sources of Early-Maturity Identified in Groundnut Core Collection H DUpadhyayaauthorGroundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an annual legume grown primarily for high quality edible oil (36 to 54 % on dry matter basis) and easily digestible protein (12 to 36 %) in its seeds. It is cultivated in over 100 countries in tropical, sub-tropical and warm temperate regions of the world. The crop is grown on about 23.8 million ha world wide with an estimated total production of 34.5 million t in shell and an average productivity of 1.44 t ha-1 in 2000. About two thirds of production comes from the semi-arid tropics (SAT) regions which are characterized by uncertain rainfall and frequent droughts. Groundnut yields are low and average about 0.8 t ha-1 in the SAT countries compared to more than 2.6 t ha-1 in the developed world. Groundnut2001International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid TropicsArticle