Author(s):

Hale SM, Patil MG, Chapke SM and Ambadkar CV

Abstract: Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an important pulse crop, which belongs to family Leguminaceae. Fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri (FOC) is a soil borne and seed borne disease of chickpea which causes great annual yield losses. Successful management of the disease by a single mean including fungicides seems to be a difficult proposition, warranting new management approach. Plant roots serve a multitude of functions in the plant including anchorage, provision of nutrients and water, and production of exudates with growth regulatory properties. Root exudates containing root specific metabolites have critical ecological impact on soil macro and micro biota as well as on the whole plant. In context to this an in vitro experiment was conducted to study the effect of root exudates of eleven chickpea cultivars on spore germination and hyphal growth of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri at VNMVV, Parbhani (M.S.). The root exudates of the susceptible cultivars JG 62 showed highest colony diameter i.e. 85.13 mm followed by root exudates of the cultivars Vijay showed 50.46 mm colony diameter. This shows that root exudates of both cultivar did not inhibit colony growth of Foc whereas, it was strongly inhibited by root exudates of resistant cultivar JG 315 which shows 17.33 mm colony diameter on 9^th day which was highly inhibited than other cultivars. Results of spore germination depicted that the root exudates of JG 62 resulted higher per cent spore germination i.e. 84.70% and per cent spore germination by cultivar JG-315 representating significantly less spore germination i.e. 18.33%. The results led to conclusion that the resistance of chickpea to vascular wilt depends upon the antifungal activity of the root exudates clearly indicating that the resistant cultivar had a negative influence on fungal growth and spore germination whereas, the susceptible cultivar stimulated the fungal growth and germination.

Pages: 1369-1372  |  630 Views  238 Downloads

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