ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on diseases of groundnut, their symptoms, pathogen characters, epidemiology, and management. The diseases covered are early tikka leaf spot, late tikka leaf spot, rust, collar rot, root rot, stem and pod rot, wilt, anthracnose, yellow mould, yellow mould, rossette, groundnut bud necrosis disease, and Indian peanut clump disease. The fungus remains dormant as sclerotia for a long period in the soil and in infected plant debris. The primary infection is through soil-borne and seed-borne sclerotia. Cultural practices such as deep’ covering or burial of organic matter before planting, non-dirting cultivation by avoiding movement of soil up around the base of plants and preventing accumulation of organic debris are extremely useful in reducing the disease. The pathogen survives as uredospores on volunter groundnut plants. The fungus also survives in infected plant debris in soil.
