Groundnut plays a significant economic role in the lowland and drought-prone regions of Ethiopia. During the main cropping season of 2021/22 in the North, Western Ethiopia Metekel zone at Pawe Agricultural Research Centre, genotypes of groundnut were evaluated for quantitative and qualitative traits. In an 8x8 simple lattice design, 64 groundnut genotypes were evaluated to ascertain the direct and indirect effects of yield-related traits on kernel yield and the relationship between yield and traits related to yield. Due to the absence of improved groundnut varieties in the study area, groundnut production was low at 1.9 t/ha under rain-fed conditions. Using SAS software version 9.4, data were recorded for 12 quantitative and 2 qualitative traits and subjected to ANOVA analysis. Kernel yield showed highly significant positive genotypic and phenotypic correlation with pod yield (rg = 0.98**), (rhp =0.98**) and the lowest positive correlation with shelling percentage (rg = 0.40**), rph = 0.41**).The path analysis for kernel yield per hectare revealed that there was a strong positive correlation between pod yield (rg = 0.98**, rhp = 0.98**), harvest index (rg = 0.68**, rph = 0.68**), the number of pods per plant (rg = 0.64**, rph = 0.60**), the number of seeds per pod (rg = 0.64**, rph = 0.61**), and the hundred seed weight (rg = At the phenotypic level, pod yield (0.94) had the greatest direct positive effect on kernel yield. Days to maturity (0.57), oil content (0.31), and shelling percentage (0.19) were next. However, at the genotypic level, pod yield (0.94) and shelling percentage (0.18) had the greatest direct positive effects. The conclusion suggested that breeding programs for groundnuts using the genotypes that were tested have a good chance of increasing kernel yield. Therefore, priority should be given to pod yield, days to maturity, and shelling percentage in order to increase kernel yield production.

Keywords: Correlation, Path, kernel, Variety, Groundnut