Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, PAU, Ludhiana-141004
National Symposium on Strategic Issues in Plant Pathological Research held at Department of Plant Pathology, CSK HP Krishi Vishvavidayalaya, Palampur on November 24–25, 2011
Botrytis gray mold (BGM) caused by Botrytis cineria is a serious disease of chickpea. Changing climatic conditions and abrupt rise in temperature at flowering and pod filling (March-April) accompanied by rains make the crop vulnerable to BGM attack. The disease has short life cycle and within a week can cause severe damage to the crop. The crop shows apical necrosis of tender shoots, branches and leaves. Flower drying and pod rotting directly affect the yield. The material to be screened for ascochyta blight (AB) screening in blight nursery gets exposed to the natural incidence of BGM under conditions conducive for BGM epidemics in last week of March to middle of April. In the present study, chikpea germplasm was screened both for AB and BGM resistance under natural epiphytotic conditions during 2009. Nine chickpea accessions viz., GL24021, GL26167, GL27171, GG1261, GG1326, GG1390, ICC1069, ICC4181, ICC4200 were found resistant to AB and BGM. These lines can serve as good source of resistance and can be used in resistance breeding program. With changing climatic condition there is a great possibility of regular BGM occurrence thus some new chemicals were tested for their efficacy to control AB and BGM. Compared to the recommended chemical Mencozeb and Carbendazim, identified Propiconazole (tilt) and Difenconazole (score) when sprayed at flower initiation and second at ten days interval performed better to check both the diseases.
