Fungal foliar diseases infecting groundnut: their management, status and the future

Cultivated groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important oilseed crop widely grown in the tropics and subtropics. The yield for this crop is significantly affected by fungal foliar diseases namely leaf spots and rust to the tune of 60% in susceptible varieties. The fungal foliar disease menace can be addressed by development and deployment of high yielding resistant varieties with farmer preferred traits. Such achievement can be realized through use of conventional approaches complemented with genomic tools in identification of key genes, their introgression and the use of molecular markers to quicken selection. This review gives an overview of the fungal foliar diseases, epidemiology, their management, genetic highlights in breeding approaches for resistance and the future.