Management of collar rot of chickpea by Pseudomonas fluorescens and identification of sources of resistance

An investigation was carried out at Department of Plant Pathology, JNKVV, Jabalpur to know the antagonistic potential of Pseudomons fluorescens against Sclerotium rolfsii. The result of the In vitro testing revealedthat highestgrowth inhibition zone was obtained on King's B medium (82.2%) followed by Pseudomonas Agar (77.1%) and Potato Dextrose Agarmedium(62.3%) after 9 day sofin cubationas compared to control. Combined application of soil and seed treatment of P. fluorescens was found best for increasing germination percentage i.e. 96.6%, 90%, 100% and 86.6% in JG 62, JG 63, JG 315 and JG 74 respectively as compared to seed and soil treatment alone. The combined application of soil and seed treatment of P. fluorescens effectively helped to increase plant growth, vigour index and to minimize disease incidence. Out of 190 chickpea entries comprising of 115 desi and 75 kabuli types evaluated for resistance against S. rolfsii under net house conditions, 18 entries of the desi ware found resistant, however, 12 entries were moderately resistant. In Kabuli type, 3 entries were found resistant, while 4 entries were graded as moderately resistant. In a field screening of 284 chickpea germplasm accessions against collar rot, 9 were found free from disease and 29 exhibited < 10 per cent mortality due to collar rot.