One hundred and sixteen accessions representing 28 species in the genus Ara
chis were evaluated for resistance to groundnut rosette disease using an in
fector row technique during the 1996/97, 1997/98, 1998/99 and 1999/2000 gro
wing seasons at Chitedze, Malawi. Of these, a total of 25 accessions belong
ing to Arachis diogoi (1 accession), A. hoehnei (2), A. kretschmeri (2), A.
cardenasii (2), A. villosa (1), A. pintoi (5), A. kuhlmannii (2), A. appre
ssipila (3), A. stenosperma (5), A. decora (1), and A. triseminata (1) show
ed resistance to the groundnut rosette disease. No visible disease symptoms
were observed in several accessions belonging to A. appressipila, A. carde
nasii, A. hoehnei, A. kretschmeri, A. villosa, A. pintoi, A. kuhlmannii, an
d A. stenosperma. Some accessions in A. appressipila, A. diogoi, A. stenosp
erma, A. decora, A. triseminata, A. kretschmeri, A. kuhlmannii, and A. pint
oi were resistant to all three components of rosette, Groundnut rosette ass
istor virus (GRAV), Groundnut rosette virus (GRV) and its satellite RNA (sa
t. RNA). Two accessions in A. stenosperma and one accession in A. kuhlmanni
i showed the presence of all three components of the rosette disease. Sever
al wild Arachis accessions were resistant to GRAV. All the accessions of A.
batizocoi (4), A. benensis (2), A. duranensis (46), A. dardani (1), A. ipa
ensis (1), A. magna (1), A. monticola (3), A. oteroi (1), A. pusilla (4), a
nd A. valida (2) were susceptible to rosette disease. In all these accessio
ns, infected plants were chlorotic and severely stunted. The value of explo
itation of the resistance in wild Arachis species in rosette resistance bre
eding programmes is discussed.