Screening of safflower advanced breeding lines against Alternaria carthami

Safflower is a major oil seed Rabi crop grown mostly on residual soil moisturein Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in India. Diseases affecting the crop include fungal, bacterial, viral, and nematode. The main biotic challenges limiting its production are leafspot infections caused by Alternaria carthami Chowdhury, which result in significant loss of seed quality and quantity. Todifferentiate saffloweradvanced breeding lines against Alternaria carthami, a field experiment was conducted at All India Coordinated Research Project on Safflower, Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth, Parbhani with 26 advanced breeding lines and four checks viz.Manjira (Susceptible check), SSF-658, A-1, and PBNS-12. The entries were sowed in the last week of August with spacing 30 x 15 cm, and a conducive condition was maintained for disease development. The safflower entries exhibited varying reactions against A. carthami. Out of 26 entries, 7entries viz. PBNS-148, SAF-P-1805, SAF-P-1907, SAF-19-13, PBNS-182, SAF-P-1802, SAF-P-1803 exhibited tolerant reactions, 02 entries viz. SAF-P-1804, TSF-89 showed susceptible reaction and 17 entries showed highly susceptible reactions. None of the safflower entries was found to be immune or resistant or moderately resistant to the disease.