Alternaria blight caused by Alternaria burnsii cause severe damage to cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.). The three isolates of A. burnsii were isolated from cumin and designated as Ab-1, Ab-2 and Ab-3. These isolates collected from different regions of Gujarat were subjected to study cultural, morphological, pathogenic, biochemical and molecular variations. The conidia of all the three isolates varied in length, breadth, colony colour, number of horizontal and vertical septation and average radial growth. Isolate Ab-1 from Anand was found to be highly pathogenic on cumin GC-4 with 46.17% disease intensity. Isolates Ab-2 and Ab-3 showed maximum similarity index (0.1823) while Ab-1 and Ab-2 showed least similarity index (0.5390). The dendogram obtained by Unweighted Pair Group Method Arithmetic Average (UPGMA) divided the isolated into two main clusters. The first cluster include Ab-1, while second cluster included Ab-2 and Ab-3. The Highest polymorphism (100%) was observed with the primer OPE 14 and OPA 10. Dendogram based on genetic distance formed two clusters, one comprising of isolates Ab-1 and Ab-2, while another included isolate Ab-3
Alternaria burnsii, cultural, morphological, pathogenic, biochemical, molecular, variability, cumin
