Experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of date of sowing on groundnut cultivars against late leaf spot disease severity, defoliation, frequency and size of the leaf spot which revealed that all these aspects were significantly influenced by the date of sowing and crop varieties which directly affect the pod yield and test weight. The crop sown early on 25th June exhibited maximum mean late leaf spot disease severity (range 43.63 to 54.05%), defoliation (range, 17.22 to 22.30%), frequency (range, 1.32 to 1.78 / mm2) and size (range, 1.49 to 1.56 / mm2) and thereby gave reduced pod yield (range, 1225 to 1720 kg/ha) and test weight (28.66 to 32.97 g) followed by 10th July and 25th July. Among the groundnut cultivars, susceptible cv. JL 24 exhibited maximum mean disease severity (range, 35.94 to 54.05 %), defoliation (range, 11.61 to 22.30 %), frequency (range, 1.23 to 1.78 / mm2) and size (range, 1.26 to 1.56 / mm2), followed by TAG 24 and TG 26. However, LGN 1 exhibited least mean disease severity, defoliation, frequency and size with the highest pod yield (ranges, 1720 to 2332 kg/ha) and test weight (ranges, 32.97 to 38.59 g). &nbsp;

Response of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) cultivars to late leaf spot disease (Passalora personata) under different sowing dates&nbsp;

<div>Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is grown globally and it is affected by many widespread diseases and infestations in all the groundnut growing areas. &nbsp;In Eritrea, leaf spot diseases are prevalent that is caused by fungi (Passalora arachidicola and P. personata) and results great losses. Botanical pesticides play an important role to control fungal infections due to their non-phytotoxic and eco-friendly nature. This study intended to evaluate the efficacy of selected botanicals viz., Neem (Azadirachta indica), Melia (Melia azadirach), Lantana (Lantana camara), Datura (Datura metel) and Marigold (Tagetes patula) on plant height, intensity of leaf spots disease and yield of groundnut in Hamelmalo zoba, Eritrea, during 2017-2018. Extract of neem leaves (5.66, 14.10 and 25.38%) showed high significance in plant height after 20, 40 and 60 days, respectively, as compared to untreated control (21.07%) and mancozeb (treated control). The lowest disease intensity was recorded in the application of neem extract (15%w/v) at different days after sowing. However, mancozeb (2 g/liter) was the most effective and followed by Neem &gt; Melia &gt; Lantana showed improvement in plant growth and maximum reduction in disease intensity. The highest reduction rate in &lsquo;disease incidence&rsquo; and &lsquo;disease severity&rsquo; was found in Neem extract application (63.11 and 40.29) after mancozeb (56.52 and 36.18) at 95 DAS at 5% significant level. &nbsp;Among the botanicals, plants treated with Neem extract was observed with highest number of pods (89.45) and yield (98.10 q/ha) followed by Melia (5% w/v) i.e. 87.59 and 95.02 respectively.</div>

Evaluation of Botanicals to Manage Leaf Spots (Passalora arachidicola and Passalora personatum) of Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) in Zoba Hamelmalo Region of Eritrea