Development of Disease Management Strategies for Peanut Production in Arkansas

During the 2018 cropping season 23,000 acres of peanut was planted in Arkansas. With continue production has contributed to new disease pressure from that of Sclerotinia blight and late leaf spots in addition to those more widespread diseases such as southern blight. Based on our findings Rhizoctonia foliar blight does not appear to be an important disease as it rarely causes any yield loss, even when disease is severe. Thus, farmers do not need to spend any expense managing this disease. Sclerotinia blight caused by Sclerofinia sc/erofiorum is not as aggressive as S. minor, so farmers may not need to implement as an aggressive management program in fields where S. sc/erotiorwn is the causal agent. This disease, however, is more problematic in Randolph and Lawrence counties and has yet to be detected in Mississippi and Craighead counties where 50% of the acres are planted. Late leaf spot is the main foliar disease, thus late season foliar fungicides will likely be needed to prevent premature defoliation. This project is designed to answer fundamental disease management questions by Arkansas peanut producers. Information from this project is delivered to farmers at production meetings or on-line on the University of Arkansas Row Crops website.