ABSTRACT
Bacterial wilt (BW) disease is widely distributed in tropical, subtropical, and some warm temperate region in the world and poses a great threat to peanut production in China and Southeast Asia including Indonesia and Vietnam. More than 10% of the area under peanut is affected in southern China. Diagnosis can be determined from a section of stem pruned from near the base of a suspect plant. Immediately after pruning the stem, suspend it in a glass of clean water for several minutes. A diagnostic schedule involving direct seed plating and grow-out of peanut seeds for 4 weeks and the leaf bits and twig pieces on tetrazolium chloride agar can be useful for the detection of BW infection in imported peanut germplasm seeds. Compared to many other crops, a relatively broad genetic diversity of resistance to BW has been found in the cultivated peanut, and the development of BW-resistant peanut cultivars has been more successful.
