Identification of multi-race Fusarium wilt resistance in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) using rapid hydroponic phenotyping

Fusarium wilt, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris (Padwick) Matuo and K. Sato is a major cause for low productivity of chickpea. Presence of multiple pathogenic races makes it difficult for the breeder to screen for Fusarium wilt resistance. Twenty-two chickpea genotypes were grown in Hoagland solution and inoculated with five different F. oxysporum races two isolates of each race), including host and pathogens from the major chickpea growing region of India. The resistant chickpea line “WR 315” showed a “highly resistant” reaction, and the susceptible line “JG 62” showed a “highly susceptible” reaction across all pathogen races and isolates. However, the parent lines “Pusa 372” and “JG 11” showed “susceptible” reactions, while the marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC) lines of “Pusa 372” (IL.11,12,14) and “JG 11” (IL.15,16,17) were superior for assessed characters (lengths of roots and shoots, fresh and dry weights), and were highly resistant to most races. This is the first study to use race specific screening of MABC lines using hydroponic host culture in chickpea.