Question

Early leaf spot disease of Arachis hypogea is caused due to infection of:
A. Gibberella fujikuroi
B. Phytophthora infestans
C. Cercospora personata
D. Agrobacterium tumefaciens

Answer 1

Hint: Arachis hypogea are nothing but peanut, peanut crop was originated in South America, but it is cultivated in the warm, temperate, and tropical regions, among peanuts crops, Arachis hypogea is economically very important.

Complete answer:
The peanut crop, mainly Arachis hypogea is mainly attacked by the fungal pathogen called Cerecospora personata, it belongs to the ascomycete family.
Cercospora only attacks the peanut family, it causes the brown lesion and chlorotic rings on stems, leaves, and petioles of the plants.
Once the planting is over, these peanut pathogens start showing symptoms, mainly after 40 to 50 days and the first macroscopic symptoms occur on the adaxial surface of the lower leaves.
Further damage leads to defoliation and premature loss of leaves.
And the signs of the affected plant are tufts of silvery hair like spores.
This disease usually starts after a rainy reason, where the leaves are always in the wet condition.
The pathogens mainly attack and grow only in the humid and wet areas.
The anamorph stage is the dominant stage, where hypotheca is produced due to ascospores are formed in plants and embedded into tissue and cause and spread the disease.
Another given option, gibberella fujikuroi is also a fungal pathogen, which causes bankan’s disease in the rice seedlings. So it is the wrong option.
Another one is Phytophthora infestans mainly cause disease in the potatoes.
Agrobacterium tumefacient causes the disease in 140 species of eudicots.

So the Correct option: C. Cercospora personata.

Note:
In the genus Cercospora, the sexual stage is absent and the reproduction is mainly caused through asexual reproduction through ascospores, and this spore dispersal and transfer is mainly occurring through irrigation, water, and splashing water and insects, etc.