Standardization of inoculation technique to identify the resistance sources against charcoal rot of sesame caused by Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid.

Charcoal rot caused by Macrophomina phaseolina, is an important fungal disease of sesame crop. Inoculation techniques were standardized to evaluate the sesame germplasm against M. phaseolina. Four different inoculation techniques were evaluated, in which two soil inoculation methods viz. infected sorghum grain inoculum and maize sand-meal medium inoculum and two stem inoculation methods viz., tooth pick culture technique and stem cut inoculation were compared. Toothpick inoculation method was observed more convenient and effective for screening of large set of sesame germplasm. Total 54 germplasm lines were screened along with the two checks namely PB Til No. 2 and RT-346. Six-week old sesame plants were inoculated with toothpick method and out of 54 lines screened against charcoal rot, four accessions viz., IC131797, IC129637, IC0383343, and IC130030 showed a resistant reaction.