| Abstract: | About 6800 groundnut germplasm accessions originating from South America, Africa, and Asia were evaluated for resistance to rosette disease using an infector row technique between the 1990/91 and 1996/97 growing seasons. Of these, 116 germplasm accessions, including 15 short-duration Spanish types, have shown high levels of resistance to rosette disease. A high percentage of these resistant accessions were from West Africa and a few were from Asia and southern Africa. Only one out of 1400 accessions from South America showed resistance to rosette disease. All disease-resistant accessions were susceptible to groundnut rosette assistor virus. This is the first report to identify sources of resistance to rosette disease in groundnut germplasm from Asia and South America. These additional sources of resistance provide an opportunity to broaden the genetic base of resistance to rosette disease. The origins of rosette resistance in groundnut are discussed. |
