Molecular Assessment of Late Leaf Spot Resistance in Germplasm Collections of Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) construed as one of the most dynamic oilseed crop, delivering high protein besides significantly meet country’s major oil requirement. In India, 10.1 million tonnes of groundnut are produced over an area of around 5.7 million hectares at a productivity of 1777 kg/ha. Groundnut is always been a fascinating crop to small and marginal farmers but its yield was greatly challenged by foliar fungal diseases such as early leaf spot, late leaf spot and rust. Among these, late leaf spot (LLS) is a major foliar fungal disease which cause severe defoliation of diseased leaflets and reduce pod and fodder yield by 50 per cent besides the kernel quality.

The present investigation was conducted at Agricultural College and Research Institute, Killikulam during the year 20222024 involving 220 groundnut genotypes along with a resistant check (ICG 6066) and susceptible checks (TMV 2, TMV 7 and TMV 13) for screening against late leaf spot resistance under both field and artificial controlled conditions thereby assessment of the disease through molecular intervention.

Molecular interpretation revealed five markers exhibiting polymorphism to LLS disease out of 30 markers validated. The PIC values ranged from 0.501 (TC7H11) to 0.570 (Ah3TC23H10). Molecular marker screening for disease resistance categorized ICG 978, ICG 1649, ICG 1703 and ICG 2280 genotypes as resistant to late leaf spot disease while ICG 8760, ICG 4598, ICG 5051, ICG 5891 and ICG 6057 exhibited moderately resistant for late leaf spot besides exhibited higher mean yield performance among the test genotypes. Hence, the genotypes ICG 8760, ICG 4598, ICG 5051, ICG 5891 and ICG 6057 may be utilized for developing ideal recombinants for LLS resistance breeding in Groundnut.