Indian Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding (The)

Wilt is a disease of major importance, limiting production of Bengal gram in India. In the absence of chemical and suitable cultural control measures, the only practical solution of the problem lies in the breeding of resistant varieties for which the knowledge of the sources of resistance is the basic necessity.

The problem of gram wilt is a complex one as in addition to Fusarium oxysporum f. ciceri (Fusarium orthoceras f. ciceri), other fungi like Fusarium solani and Ozonium texanum are also found to cause wilting of gram plants in this country. The symptoms produced by a number of root-rotting fungi on gram overlap with one another and are often confused with the symptoms of wilt.

The studies carried out at Kanpur have revealed that F. oxysporum f. ciceri is the main cause of gram wilt in U.P. As a result of systematic work done during the last two and a half decades, some sources of resistance to this pathogen namely strains 88, 93, 100, 101, 106, 4313-2-93, 206, P 315, P 692, P 1231 and P 1663 were identified at the U.P. Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Kanpur.

Out of the above sources of resistance, three strains namely 100, 101 and 106 were used in the hybridization programme with T2 and T3 as agronomic base. Some crosses amongst the wilt resistant donors were also attempted in order to build up the wilt resistance further. In F₅, out of ten cross combinations, 24 resistant selections were obtained during 1972–73. Two of these selections namely 35/35-8/7 and 32/35–32/2 obtained from the cross 100 × 106 seem to be very promising as they showed less than 4% wilting in the last rabi season