Recent Advances in Epidemiology and Management of Major Diseases of Peanut

Abstract

Peanuts are an important legume grain for the majority of the human population in the semi-arid tropics. Owing to its growth habit, peanuts are prone to several soil and airborne pathogens, which hamper crop productivity. Of various diseases affecting peanut production cultivation, late leaf spot, LLS (Phaeoisariopsispersonata), and stem rot (Sclerotiumrolfsii) are the economically significant foliar and soil-borne diseases, respectively. The LLS is responsible for severe defoliation, whereas stem rot causes a significant reduction in plant stand, thereby causing losses in crop productivity. As a result, managing these LLS and stem rot by using chemical fungicides is not a viable strategy, keeping in view the negative effects they cause on the environment and human and animal health. It is precisely at this juncture that devising sustainable integrated disease management strategies for combating the losses due to LLS and stem rot gains significance. For better management of these diseases, understanding the epidemiological aspects of these diseases is a prerequisite.  Our present review focused on various aspects of LLS and stem rot, such as economic importance, taxonomy, and morphological characters of the pathogens, symptomatology, disease cycle, epidemiology, and management. Specifically, a comprehensive review on aspects such as host plant resistance, chemical management, application of bio-extracts, and beneficial microbes against these diseases was available. By integrating these diverse strategies, there is ample scope for better management of these diseases. Besides, our review also focused on the need-based integration of various management strategies for the sustainable management of LLS and stem rot.