Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer
Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 12 No. sp3 (2025): Advances in Plant Health Improvement for Sustainable Agriculture

Exploring the integrated strategies for enhanced stem rot disease management in groundnut

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.8993
Submitted
20 April 2025
Published
23-10-2025

Abstract

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.), a significant edible oilseed crop, suffers yield reductions due to stem rot incited by Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. A 2022 survey across three major groundnut-growing districts of Tamil Nadu revealed stem rot incidences ranging from 16.57 % to 39.55 %, with the highest occurrence recorded in the Kalpadai region of Kallakurichi. A total of 10 S. rolfsii isolates were obtained and pathogenicity assays identified the Sr3 isolate as the most virulent, causing 44.85 % disease incidence. Morphological and molecular characterization, including ITS-based analysis, confirmed the pathogen as S. rolfsii (OQ5681821). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) demonstrated that pathogenic variability negatively impacted yield traits such as seed length, plant height and shelling percentage. Native biocontrol agents Trichoderma asperellum Tr4 (OQ581458) and Bacillus licheniformis B5 (OQ195791) exhibited significant antagonistic effects, inhibiting S. rolfsii mycelial growth by 88.88 % and 70.55 % respectively. Additionally, vermicompost and neem cake extract (20 % concentration) suppressed pathogen growth by 88.22 % and 78.01 % respectively, using the poisoned food technique. Compatibility studies confirmed that T. asperellum Tr4 and B. licheniformis B5 were mutually compatible as well as with vermicompost and neem cake. Combined treatments of bioagents with vermicompost and neem cake in pot and field trials effectively reduced stem rot incidence and improved yield parameters in groundnut. This study offers valuable insights into S. rolfsii pathogenesis and highlights sustainable, eco-friendly strategy for managing stem rot, thereby enhancing groundnut productivity.

References

  1. 1. Ghosh S, Kaur M. Impact of organic and inorganic sources on productivity of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.): A review. International Journal of Research in Agronomy. 2024;7(4):672–8. https://doi.org/10.33545/2618060X.2024.v7.i4i.637
  2. 2. Scribd. 10-Groundnut Outlook Report - January to December 2022. https://www.scribd.com/document/685223732/10-Groundnut-Outlook-Report-January-to-December-2022
  3. 3. Liu D, Mao X, Zhang G, He L, Wang L, Zhang F, et al. Antifungal activity and mechanism of physcion against Sclerotium rolfsii, the causal agent of peanut southern blight. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 2024;72(28):15601–12. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.4c02519
  4. 4. Archana T, Rajendran L, Manoranjitham SK, Santhana Krishnan VP, Paramasivan M, Karthikeyan G. Culture dependent analysis of seed bacterial endophyte, Pseudomonas spp. EGN 1, against the stem rot disease (Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc.) in groundnut. Egyptian Journal of Biological Pest Control. 2020;30(1):119. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41938-020-00317-x
  5. 5. Solomon D, Chemeda F, Mashilla D, Tamado T. Distribution of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) root rot complex and associated pathogens in eastern Ethiopia. African Journal of Plant Science. 2023;17(3):18–29. https://doi.org/10.5897/AJPS2022.2272
  6. 6. Ramchander S, Palaniappan DK, Natarajan D, Sheriff S. Principal component and cluster analysis on eating and cooking quality parameters in rice (Oryza sativa L.) germplasm. Biological Forum. 2023;15(5):326–32.
  7. 7. Tanjila N, Islam S, Akhter MS, Hossain MM, Alam MS, Begum F. Characterization of Sclerotium rolfsii causing foot rot: A severe threat of betel vine cultivation in Bangladesh. 3 Biotech. 2024;14(2):58. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13205-023-03890-8
  8. 8. Ptaszek M, Canfora L, Pugliese M, Pinzari F, Gilardi G, Trzciński P, et al. Microbial-based products to control soil borne pathogens: Methods to improve efficacy and to assess impacts on microbiome. Microorganisms. 2023;11(1):224. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11010224
  9. 9. Ruano Rosa D, Mercado Blanco J. Combining biocontrol agents and organics amendments to manage soil borne phytopathogens. In: Meghvansi MK, Varma A, editors. Organic Amendments and Soil Suppressiveness in Plant Disease Management. Springer International Publishing; 2015. p. 457–78. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23075-7_22
  10. 10. Riker AJ, Riker RS. Introduction to Research on Plant Diseases: A guide to the Principles and Practice for Studying Various Plant Disease Problems. John S Swift Company; 1936. p. 146.
  11. 11. Kumari R, Kumar V, Arukha AP, Rabbee MF, Ameen F, Koul B. Screening of the biocontrol efficacy of potent Trichoderma strains against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri and Sclerotium rolfsii causing wilt and collar rot in chickpea. Microorganisms. 2024;12(7):1280. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12071280
  12. 12. Yendyo S, Ramesh GC, Pandey BR. Evaluation of Trichoderma spp., Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus subtilis for biological control of Ralstonia wilt of tomato. F1000Research. 2018;6:2028. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.12448.3
  13. 13. Hirpara DG, Gajera HP, Hirapara JG, Golakiya BA. Inhibition coefficient and molecular diversity of multi stress tolerant Trichoderma as potential biocontrol agent against Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. Infection, Genetics and Evolution. 2017;55:75–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meegid.2017.08.029
  14. 14. Nonthapa A, Pengpan P, Chankaew S, Iwai CB, Hanboonsong Y, Falab S. Vermicompost in combination with Trichoderma asperellum isolate T13 as bioagent to control sclerotium rot disease on vegetable soybean seedlings. Agriculture and Natural Resources. 2022;56(5):877–8. https://doi.org/10.34044/j.anres.2022.56.5.02
  15. 15. Jeyaraman M, Radhakrishnan B. Shelf life of bacterial and fungal biocontrol agents in different formulations. Indian Phytopathology. 2016; 69:422–3.
  16. 16. Naseri B, Nazer Kakhki SH. Predicting common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) productivity according to Rhizoctonia root and stem rot and weed development at field plot scale. Frontiers in Plant Science. 2022; 13:1038538. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.1038538
  17. 17. Sharma S. OPSTAT: a comprehensive statistical software. International Journal of Computer Applications. 2017;108(16):1–7. http://opstat.somee.com/opstat/
  18. 18. R Core Team. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing Vienna, Austria. 2016. https://www.R-project.org
  19. 19. Hawaladar S, Nandan M, Vinaykumar HD, Hadimani RH, Hiremath S, Venkataravanappa V, et al. Morphological and molecular characterization of Sclerotium rolfsii associated with stem rot disease of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.). Indian Phytopathology. 2022;75(1):25–36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42360-021-00419-y
  20. 20. Praveen A, Kannan C. Disease incidence and severity of Sclerotium rolfsii on Arachis hypogaea L. Plant Archives. 2021;21(1). https://doi.org/10.51470/PLANTARCHIVES.2021.v21.no1.047
  21. 21. Parwanayoni NM, Suprapta DN, Darsini N, Sudirga SK. Isolation and molecular identification of fungi that cause stem rot disease in Bali’s local legumes. Biogenesis. 2021;9(1):73–80. https://doi.org/10.24252/bio.v9i1.20426
  22. 22. Azman Halimi R, Raymond CA, Barkla BJ, Mayes S, King GJ. Development of selection indices for improvement of seed yield and lipid composition in Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.). Foods. 2021;11(1):86. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11010086
  23. 23. Paul SK, Gupta DR, Mahapatra CK, Rani K, Islam T. Morpho molecular, cultural and pathological characterization of Athelia rolfsii causing southern blight disease on common bean. Heliyon. 2023;9(5):e16136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16136
  24. 24. Rivera MC, Wright ER, Silvestro L, Stenglein S, Kato A. New host record of Sclerotium rolfsii causing crown and root rot on Pseudogynoxis benthamii. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad. 2018;89(3):950–3. https://doi.org/10.22201/ib.20078706e.2018.3.2187
  25. 25. Manasa R, Devi RS, Vemana K, John K, Rao GR, Anubhava PJ, et al. Biochar as a strategy to manage stem rot disease of groundnut incited by Sclerotium rolfsii. Frontiers in Agronomy. 2024;6:1470194. https://doi.org/10.3389/fagro.2024.1470194
  26. 26. Rajani P, Rajasekaran C, Vasanthakumari MM, Olsson SB, Ravikanth G, Uma Shaanker R. Inhibition of plant pathogenic fungi by endophytic Trichoderma spp. through mycoparasitism and volatile organic compounds. Microbiological Research. 2021;242:126595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micres.2020.126595
  27. 27. Zhang D, Yu S, Zhao D, Zhang J, Pan Y, Yang Y, et al. Inhibitory effects of non volatile lipopeptides and volatile ketone metabolites secreted by Bacillus velezensis C16 against Alternaria solani. Biological Control. 2021;152:104421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2020.104421
  28. 28. Haque Z, Iqbal MS, Ahmad A, Khan MS, Prakash J. Molecular characterization of Trichoderma spp. isolates by internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region sequencing technique and its use as a biocontrol agent. The Open Biotechnology Journal. 2020;14(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1874070702014010070
  29. 29. Pandian RT, Raja M, Kumar A, Sharma P. Morphological and molecular characterization of Trichoderma asperellum strain Ta13. Indian Phytopathology. 2016;69(3):297–303.
  30. 30. Medison RG, Jiang J, Medison MB, Tan LT, Kayange CD, Sun Z, et al. Evaluating the potential of Bacillus licheniformis YZCUO202005 isolated from lichens in maize growth promotion and biocontrol. Heliyon. 2023;9(10). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20204
  31. 31. Andrés Calderín García. Humic acids of vermicompost as an ecological pathway to increase resistance of rice seedlings to water stress. African Journal of Biotechnology. 2012;11(13). https://doi.org/10.5897/AJB11.1960
  32. 32. Deepika B, Sheela J, Indra N, Kalaiyarasi R, Navamaniraj KN. In vitro efficacy of organic amendments and biocontrol agents against Sclerotium rolfsii causing groundnut stem rot disease. Plant Science Today. 2024. https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.2025.12.1
  33. 33. Gil SS, Cappellari LDR, Giordano W, Banchio E. Antifungal Activity and Alleviation of Salt Stress by Volatile Organic Compounds of Native Pseudomonas Obtained from Mentha piperita. Plants. 2023;12(7):1488. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12071488
  34. 34. Rm S, Lp C. Organic matter in the pest and plant disease control: a meta-analysis. Chemical and Biological Technologies in Agriculture. 2022;9(1):70. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40538-022-00332-0
  35. 35. Abdel Wahed G, Hassan M, Shehata AG, Imara D. Management of damping off and root rot diseases on bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) by vermicomposting and some other agents with special reference to Fusarium thapsinum first reported as root rot pathogen in Egypt. Egyptian Journal of Phytopathology. 2023;51(2):51–67. https://dx.doi.org/10.21608/ejp.2023.222313.1099
  36. 36. Charoenrak P, Chamswarng C, Intanoo W, Keawprasert N. The effects of vermicompost mixed with Trichoderma asperellum on the growth and Pythium root rot of lettuces. GEOMATE Journal. 2019 Feb 20;17(61):215-21. https://doi.org/10.21660/2019.61.4728
  37. 37. Veena SS, Krishna PN, Karthikeyan S. Synergistic effect of oil cakes and Trichoderma asperellum in the suppression of Sclerotium rolfsii. Journal of Root Crops. 2023;49(1):39–45. http://journal.isrc.in/index.php/jrc/article/view/640
  38. 38. A V, Gowda B, M.B S. Influence of non-edible oil-cakes and their composts on growth, yield and Alternaria leaf spot disease in chilli. International Journal of Recycling of Organic Waste in Agriculture. 2022;11(3). https://doi.org/10.30486/ijrowa.2021.1912158.1150
  39. 39. Shukla A, Gupta A, Srivastava S. Bacterial consortium (Priestia endophytica NDAS01F, Bacillus licheniformis NDSA24R and Priestia flexa NDAS28R) and thiourea mediated amelioration of arsenic stress and growth improvement of Oryza sativa L. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry. 2023;195:14–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plaphy.2022.12.022
  40. 40. Moarrefzadeh N, Khateri H, Darbemamieh M. Application of mealworm frass, mycorrhiza and vermicompost against Rhizoctonia root rot disease and their effects on the growth parameters of bean plants. Journal of Crop Protection. 2023;12(2):209–25. http://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.22519041.2023.12.2.8.8

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.