CHAPTER VIII 



PEANUT DISEASES 



By 



KENNETH H. GARREN^ AND COYT WILSON^ 



In the early years of its cultivation, the peanut was considered some- 

 what disease resistant. In 1895, after peanuts had been an important crop 

 for a half century, a bulletin (55) on peanuts, published by the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, made no specific mention of diseases. Re- 

 visions of this bulletin, dated 1909 and 1917, described peanuts as re- 

 markably free from disease. Leafspot was mentioned but damage was 

 regarded as unimportant except in low or poorly drained portions of 

 fields (15, 16). 



As peanut production increased, diseases began to attract more at- 

 tention. There began, therefore, an Era of Exploration. During this 

 period numerous peanut diseases were observed and recorded, many of 

 which never appeared again in the literature. The next era was notable 

 for concentrated study of a few diseases of outstanding local importance. 

 Among such diseases were: Bacterial wilt in the East Indies, rosette in 

 Africa, and leafspot in the southern United States. Overlapping this 

 Concentrated Era was a fourth or General Era which resulted in the 

 publication of reviews of peanut diseases, either from a world-wide (86) 

 or strictly localized viewpoint (64, 98, 99). 



At the present time interest in and the study of peanut diseases appear 

 to be in this general phase. During the years 1941 to 1945 the acute 

 shortage of vegetable oils focused attention on peanut culture in the 

 United States and numerous surveys of peanut diseases were made. As a 

 result of these surveys there developed the concept that many diseases 

 other than the obvious ones are found in peanut fields, and that, while the 

 damage caused may be considerable (125), it is difficult to estimate the 

 specific damage to be attributed to individual diseases. 



^ Kenneth H. Garren, formerly associate botanist, Geor8:ia Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 is associate professor of botany and plant pathology, Alabama Polytechnic Institute; Coyt Wilson 

 is plant pathologist at the same institution. 



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