Artificial Screening for Foliar Fungal Diseases in Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Prabhu R.1,*, Manivannan N.1, Mothilal A.2, Ibrahim S.M.3 1Department of Oilseeds, CPBG, Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 2Regional Research Station, Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, Vridhachalam, Tamil Nadu 3Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, Madurai, Tamil Nadu *Email: rajprabhu03@yahoo.com
Online published on 2 January, 2017. Abstract Late leaf spot and rust are the most important foliar fungal diseases affecting groundnut production in the world. These diseases damage the plant by reducing the leaf area available for photosynthesis and by stimulating leaflet abscission leading to heavy defoliation and cause yield loss as high as 70%. Although the foliar diseases can be controlled by spraying certain fungicides, growing of resistant variety is the best eco-friendly means of reducing yield loss from these diseases. So, it is important to identify sources of resistance and suitable screening methodology that can be used to evolve resistant variety. Moreover, foliar fungal diseases are more prominent in Kharif rather than in Rabi season. Hence, there arises a need to identify suitable alternative to screen for diseases during off season. Therefore, an attempt was made to screen three backcross derivatives viz., ICGV 00350 × GPBD 4, ICGV 03128 × GPBD 4 and VRI 2 × GPBD 4 against late leaf spot and rust diseases of groundnut under artificial epiphytotic conditions, during Rabi 2013–14. These results indicated that in all the three backcross derivatives, varied number of progenies in each cross showed considerable resistance to late leaf spot and rust diseases. Interestingly, the progenies that showed resistance in artificial phenotypic screening were also resistant during molecular screening at early stage. Such progenies with resistance were selected and further evaluated for yield and yield related attributes. To conclude, the high yielding progenies in each cross with good sources of resistance for both late leaf spot and rust may be again backcrossed to develop new/improved varieties with high yield potential and disease resistance. Top Keywords Groundnut, Artificial screening, Resistance, Late leaf spot, Rust, Yield attributes. Top |