Development of Disease Management Strategies for Peanut Production in Arkansas

There has been a renewed interest in peanut production in Arkansas. In anticipation that disease will be an important factor in sustaining peanut production we have taken a systematic approach to determine what diseases are present and how to best manage these diseases under our cropping system. Currently, there have been several diseases identified in the state including Rhizoctonia foliar blight, Rhizoctonia limb rot, southern blight, Sclerotinia blight, early leaf spot, and late leaf spot. Though our system would suggest Rhizoctonia foliar blight as an important disease, our research indicates it is more of a minor disease and may require little or no management practice. Sclerotinia blight caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum does not appear to be as aggressive as that of S. minor, so growers may not need to implement as an aggressive management program in fields where S. sclerotiorum is the causal agent of Sclerotinia blight. Further, some of the cul ti vars from Florida are more susceptible to Sclerotinia blight than those from Georgia. These projects are designed to answer some of the fundamental disease management questions by Arkansas peanut producers which are delivered to them directly at production meetings or on-line through our University of Arkansas Row Crops blog website.