A COMPARATIVE-ASSESSMENT OF WATER-USE EFFICIENCY IN GROUNDNUT (ARACHIS-HYPOGAEA) GROWN IN CONTAINERS AND IN THE FIELD UNDER WATER-LIMITED CONDITIONS

Water use efficiency (WUE) was measured on fourteen genotypes of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) grown in containers under adequately irrigated and water-limited conditions. The genotypes used similar amounts of water but produced different quantities of dry matter. WUE accounted for > 92 % of the variation in dry matter production under both irrigated and water-limited conditions. There was a significant increase in WUE under water-limited conditions. Four genotypes selected from the container experiment as having either a high or a low WUE under non-limited or limited water input conditions were further tested under prolonged water deficit conditions in a field experiment. WUE varied significantly between genotypes and there was a positive correlation between WUE and the quantity of dry matter produced by the genotypes. The results suggested that, in three out of four genotypes, the WUE measured in the container experiment was positively correlated with the WUE estimated under field conditions.