Improving Peanut Varieties i

Groundnut rosette disease (GRD) is the most destructive viral disease of peanuts in sub-Saharan Africa and arguably the most important pathogen disease on peanuts, with yearly crop losses of about $156 million. GRD can cause up to 100 percent yield losses if infection occurs before flowering and during severe epidemics. Within the last year, two improved varieties with GRD resistance, Serenut 1Res and Serenut 3RRes, are in National Performance Trials in Uganda and will be released next year. Eleven Zambian lines are also undergoing GRD improvement in Uganda as part of a multi-country collaboration to improve popular cultivars for GRD resistance and yield increases. Breeding GRD resistance into improved varieties and landraces will allow for better management of GRD. This is especially true for movement of GRD resistance into the landraces, which will rapidly expedite acceptance of the resistance trait. The outcome of research by UGA plant pathologists has and will continue to result in the development and adoption of improved cultivars that will mitigate a major biotic stress and result in increased peanut yields and increased quality.