Screening of Lentil Genotypes against Highly Aggressive Strain of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lentis

Abstract

Lentil is one of the most nutritious pulse crops known as masur and grown as a rainfed crop throughout the world in winter season. It is rich in protein, starch, micronutrients and dietary fiber. In the global scenario, India ranked first in the area and second in the production with Bihar being one the major lentil growing state. The majority of the lentil crop is grown in Tal area of the state. As it is cultivated as a rainfed crop, it gets severely affected by several biotic and abiotic stresses. Among the biotic stresses, Fusaium wilt, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lentis (Fol) is one of the major fungal diseases and remarkably causing severe crop damage from vegetative to reproductive stage producing significant yield reduction. Fol isolate exhibit great variability and aggressiveness based on agro- climatic conditions. AGLF-11 isolate of Fol collected from Tal area of Bihar was found to be highly aggressive based on previous studies. For this, 50 diverse genotypes were screened against this isolate under greenhouse condition, out of which 14 genotypes showed high susceptibility, 29 genotypes showed moderate susceptibility, 5 genotypes exhibited moderately resistance and only 2 genotypes (L 7920 and DPL 58) exhibited resistance reaction.