Citation: Richard Isa Bwala, Zuwaira Haruna Mohammed, Usman Muhammad Maina, Shariifah Saidu Gaya, Franca Uche Richard, Mairama Abba Wulgo. Incidence of Early and Late Leaf spots Disease and Agronomic Performance of some Selected Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Cultivars in Makurdi, Benue State of Nigeria. Sch J Agric Vet Sci, 2022 Feb 9(2): 14-22. 14 Scholars Journal of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences Abbreviated Key Title: Sch J Agric Vet Sci ISSN 2348–8883 (Print) | ISSN 2348–1854 (Online) Journal homepage: https://saspublishers.com Incidence of Early and Late Leaf spots Disease and Agronomic Performance of some Selected Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Cultivars in Makurdi, Benue State of Nigeria Richard Isa Bwala 1* , Zuwaira Haruna Mohammed 1 , Usman Muhammad Maina 1 , Shariifah Saidu Gaya 1 , Franca Uche Richard 2 , Mairama Abba Wulgo 1 1 Department of Crop Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, P. M. B.1069 University of Maiduguri, Borno State of Nigeria 2 Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, P. M. B. 1069 Maiduguri, Nigeria DOI: 10.36347/sjavs.2022.v09i02.001 | Received: 29.10.2021 | Accepted: 02.12.2021 | Published: 13.02.2022 *Corresponding author: Richard Isa Bwala Department of Crop Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, P. M. B.1069 University of Maiduguri, Borno State of Nigeria Abstract Original Research Article Field experiment was conducted in 2013 and 2014 cropping seasons at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi, Benue State of Nigeria to Assess the incidence of early and late leaf spot disease infection induced by (Cercospora arachicola Hori) and (Phaeoisariopsis persanata [Berk and Curt]) and agronomic performance of some selected groundnuts cultivars in Makurdi, Benue State of Nigeria. These selected groundnut cultivars (treatments) include: Ex-Dakar, Danbomboyo, Borno Brown, Samnut-10, Borno Red, Benue-AGR, Shar-nya, Aloshi, Samnut-22, Tisha-1, Ijiwanda, Sannut-21 and Campalla. The treatments were replicated four times and laid in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). The land and ridges were prepared manually using hoes. The seeds were sown by dibbling per hole on top of four ridges per a plot, each measuring 3 x 2m. Results revealed significant difference (P≤ 0.05) on incidences of early and late leaf spot disease, plant height (cm), canopy spread, pod and haulm yield among the groundnut cultivars evaluated in the two cropping seasons. The incidence of early leaf spot from 44 to 51 DAS and late leaf spot from 59 to 66 DAS were significantly different among the groundnut cultivars. In the first season, Samnut-10 and Samnut-21 did not show symptom of early leaf spot disease at 45 DAS and recorded the lowest incidence of early spot disease at 52 DAS; and also the least incidence of late leaf spot disease from 59 to 66 DAS compared to other cultivars respectively. In the second season, Campalla, Samnut-10 and Samnut-21 did not show symptom of early leaf spot disease at 45 DAS and had the lowest early leaf spot disease at 52 DAS. The lowest late leaf spot incidence was observed among Samnut-10 and Samnut-21 from 59 to 66 DAS. Tish-1 had the tallest plant height and widest canopy spread from 55 to 75 DAS in the first season and second season, whereas the widest canopy spread was observed among Campalla, Tisha-1, Aloshi, Sanut-10 and Samnut-21 at 75 DAS in the second season compared with the other cultivars In the first season, Samnut-10 and Samnut-21 had higher dry pods yield while in the second season Samnu-22 significantly had the highest dry pod yield compared with the others groundnut cultivars. Higher haulms (fodder) yield production trait was observed among Borno Brown, Ex-Daker, Campalla, Samnut-21, Danbonboyo, Samnut-22, Tisha-1 and Samnut-10. Hence they are recommended for introduction to other groundnut producing areas where groundnut haulms are highly valued as source of profitable income and fodder for farm animals. Lastly, Samnut-10, Samnut-21 and Samnut-22 exhibited lower incidences to the two leaf spot diseases and also higher pod yield characteristics across the seasons. Tisha-1, Campalla and Borno Brown were moderate in their reaction to the disease across the two cropping seasons and have exhibited a good prospect for genetic improvement for high yield production and for the management of groundnut diseases in this area. Keywords: Groundnut cultivars, Early leaf spot, Late leaf spot, Disease incidence, yield. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s): This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial use provided the original author and source are credited. INTRODUCTION Groundnut (Arachis hypogeae L.) is among the profitable economic cash crops grown by majority of lower income farmers in Benue State and other parts of Nigeria for revenue generation and its nutritional values. In Nigeria, the major groundnut producing states are Bauchi, Adamawa, Yobe and Borno in the Northeast; Taraba, Nasarawa, Plateau, Benue, Niger, Kwara, Kogi and FCT Abuja in the Central zone; and Katsina, Jigawa, Kano, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi and Kaduna in the Northwest [1]. The crop is an indeterminate and self-pollinated herbaceous legume which is usually used as rotational crop to maintain the soil nutrient level. Groundnut originated between Southern Bolivia and Northern Argentina in South America and was probably taken from Brazil to Africa, India and far East by the Portuguese explorers [2]. The crop is grown worldwide as food crop and for commercial purposes in several countries. Worldwide,