Effectiveness of Resistant Germplasm and Biological Control Agents as a Sustainable Management for Fusarium Wilt Disease on Chickpea

Chickpea wilt disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceris (Padwick) is a devastating disease. The best way to control chickpea wilt disease is to find resistant varieties/lines among available germplasm. Accordingly, three hundred and eighteen diverse chickpea genotypes were evaluated within sick plot conditions for disease severity against natural inoculum. The experiment was planted in an augmented design during two year investigating seasons. Disease severity was scored with a disease rating scale and area under disease progressive curve was recorded. A total of just three lines/varieties 5006, k021-10 and k035-10 were possessing high resistance in both investigation seasons. Among six biological control agents evaluated against pathogen in-vitro by dual culture test showed that Pseudomonas fluorescens had more mycelial growth inhibition of pathogen (Foc) i.e., 70.94 % over control. Trichoderma harzianum was proved to be second best followed by Rhizobia spp. and Bacillus subtilis with 63.95%, 60.79% and 57.68% growth reduction, respectively. In glass house assay, P. fluorescens was proved to be most effective, showed high disease reduction percentage with mean 76.78 over inoculated control. © 2016 Friends Science Publishers