Experiences, Difficulties and Prospects of Disease Resistance Breeding in Chickpea

Summary

Among stress factors, diseases cause large damage to chickpea (Cicer arietinum L). Of the 50 diseases reported, Ascochyta blight and Fusarium wilt are the most widespread and destructive. A simple and reliable large-scale field screening technique has been developed for Ascochyta blight, 20,000 accessions were screened and several sources of resistance have been identified through multilocation evaluation of resistant lines. Six races were identified and lines with multiple-race resistance were identified. Lines with resistance to multiple races or at multilocations were more durable in nature. Two approaches of breeding chickpeas for durable resistance to Ascochyta blight, including breeding for partial resistance and for multiplerace resistance, have been followed with success. Breeding for Fusarium wilt resistance has been location-specific because of differences in race pattern at different locations. Occurrence of root rot and viruses together with wilt made wilt-resistant cultivars susceptible to other diseases and hence they were less acceptable to farmers. Little or no breeding work has been done on other diseases of chickpea.

Joint contribution from ICARDA and ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics), Patancheru P.O., A.P. 502 324, India