Incidence and characterization of pigeonpea stem rot disease caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (lib.) de bary in North Eastern Plain Zone of India

The incidence of Sclerotinia rot disease was recorded on various pigeonpea cultivars from flowering initiation to pod formation stage during the years 2012–13 and 2013–14. Critical symptoms of the disease were observed as formation of cottony white mycelium along with number of sclerotia on infected tissues. The pathogen was characterized on the basis of morphological and pathological traits. The cool wet winter with average minimum and maximum temperatures (9.2 and 21.0°C) and more than 93% relative humidity play an important role for stem rot disease development and spread in pigeonpea crop. The pigeonpea cultivar, ‘ ICPL-151 ’showed maximum disease incidence, twig infection and yield losses up to 73.35%, 23.58% and 15.70%, respectively, while ‘Kudrat ’and ‘MAL-13 ’cultivars were found completely resistant to the disease.