Comparison of Different Screening Methods for Selection of Ascochyta Blight Disease on Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Genotypes

Abstract

Abstract Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the second most important and commonly grown edible food legume crop all over the world. However, chickpea cultivation and production are mainly affected by Ascochyta Blight (AB) disease that results in up to 100% loss in areas having high humidity and warm temperature conditions. Various screening methods are used in the selection of chickpea genotypes for resistance to AB disease. These methods are Natural Field Condition (NFC), Artificial Epidemic Field Condition (AEFC), Marker Assisted Selection (MAS), and Real-Time PCR (RT-PCR). The study was conducted between the 2014 to 2016 growing seasons with 88 chickpea test genotypes. The results of the screening were used to sort the genotypes into the three categories susceptible (S), moderately resistant (MR), and resistant (R). Using MAS screening, 13, 21, and 54 chickpea genotypes were identified as S, MR, and R, respectively. For RT-PCR screening, 39 was S, 31 was MR, and 18 genotypes were R. NFC screening revealed 7, 17, and 64 genotypes that were S, MR, and R while 74 and 6 genotypes were S and MR, 8 genotypes were R to AB disease in the AEFC method.