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Occurrence of Sclerotinia Stem Rot of
Chickpea in Madhya Pradesh, India
Om Gupta and N D Sharma (Department of Plant
Pathology, Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya,
Jabalpur 482 004, Madhya Pradesh, India)
Chickpea is cultivated as a rainfed postrainy season crop
in Madhya Pradesh. Sclerotinia stem rot is an important
disease in the north Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab,
Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, and
parts of Rajasthan due to intermittant and heavy rains
during the crop season. The disease causes 10-100%
yield loss (Singh and Gill 1979, Singh et al. 1989).
However, there is no record of its occurrence in Madhya
Pradesh. In the 1998-99 growing season, sporadic incidence
of this disease was recorded in varietal trails of the
All India Coordinated Research Project of Chickpea at
Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. The disease ranged
from 1 to 7 on a 1-9 rating scale in different varieties.
Of the 91 genotypes assessed under natural conditions of
disease incidence, 21 were found free from infection
(rating 1), 2 scored a rating of 2, i.e., in traces. These
genotypes need further evaluation in hot spot areas.
The symptoms of the disease appeared as chlorotic or
drying of branches on whole plants scattered across the field.
The affected plants rotted at the collar region or at any
point on the branch. Later, affected plants/branches turned
yellow or drooped while retaining their green color,
followed by drying and turning straw colored. A web of
white mycelial strands appeared at the collar region and
above covering the base of the branches. Whitish, brownish
irregular shaped sclerotia were seen mingled with mycelial
strands on branches and also inside the stem.
Isolations were made from the infected leaflets and stem
and the pathogen was identified as Sclerotinia sclerotiorum
(Lib.) de Bary. The pathogenecity of the fungus was tested
on plants grown in a pot house. The plants were inoculated
with mycelial mat and the pathogen was re-isolated
from artificially infected plants. The specimens and the
culture were preserved for further work.
References
Singh, G., and Gill, A.S. 1979. Screening of gram varieties
against stem rot, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary.
Journal of Research, PAU 16(4):465-466.
Singh, G., Gill, A.S., Verma, M.M., and Lavinder Kaur.
1989. High susceptibility of chickpea to stem rot in
Punjab, India. International Chickpea Newsletter 20:16.
Management of Root-knot Nematodeswilt
Complex in Chickpea
B A Patel, D J Patel, and R G Patel (Department of
Nematotogy, B A College of Agriculture, Gujarat Agricultural
University, Anand Campus, Anand 388 110,
Gujarat, India)
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) suffers from various plant
parasitic nematodes. Root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne
incognita and M. javanica, are key pests in the Indian
subcontinent (Sharma and McDonald 1990). Chickpea
wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri appears
early and disease severity increases in the presence of
root-knot nematodes (Rao and Krishnappa 1994a).
Hence, an experiment was carried out to manage rootknot
nematodes-wilt complex on chickpea in the field
during 1995-96 and 1996-97.
Seed treatment of carbendazim @ 0.1% (w/w) +
carbosulfan @ 0.75% (w/w) along with soil application
of carbendazim granules @ 0.5 kg ha 1 in single dose as
basal application + carbofuran granules @ 2.0 kg ha -1 in
two equal splits; one at the time of seeding and another
at 30 days after seeding was tried on two chickpea varieties;
Avrodhi (wilt resistant) and Dahod Yellow (wilt susceptible).
Both the varieties without any treatment served as
control. The experiment was conducted in a root-knot
nematodes (mix population of Meloidogyne incognita
and M. javanica) and wilt fungus (Fusarium oxysporum
f. sp. ciceri) sick field. The crop was sown at 30 cm x 10
cm spacing in gross plot of 1.8 m x 2.5 m (net plot of 1.2
x 2.5 m) in randomized block design with five replications.
Other recommended practices for the crop were
followed. Observations on initial plant stand were recorded
after emergence while other observations were recorded
at maturity of crop. Soil samples were collected from
each plot after harvest of the crop and nematode population
was estimated from 100 g sample of each plot. Rootknot
disease intensity was recorded using 0-5 rating
scale (0 = free, 5 = maximum disease intensity).
The data pooled over a period of two years (Table 1)
indicated that both the chickpea varieties tested were
statistically at par with each other with respect to initial
plant stand and plant height. Moreover, they were statistically
equally susceptible to root-knot disease. However
the Avrodhi variety had less intensity of wilt disease as
compared to Dahod Yellow. Grain yield production was
significantly more by Dahod Yellow but its fodder yield
production was significantly less than Avrodhi.
ICPN 7, 2000 15