Marker Assisted Breeding of Resistance to Fusarium Wilt and Phenotypic Evaluation of Chickpea Backcross Lines

Fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris causes extensive damage to chickpea (Cicer arientinum L.) in the central part of India, and pathogen race 1 (Foc 1) causes severe yield losses. We initiated marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC) using desi landrace, WR 315, as a donor to introgress resistance to race 1 (Foc 1) in PKV Kabuli-4, another popular kabuli cultivar of chickpea, which is extra bold-seeded, semi-erect, with broad leaves, moderately resistant to wilt, dry rot, and Botrytis gray mildew (BGM), extensively cultivated in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. To confirm introgression of resistance for this race, foreground selection was undertaken using three SSR markers (TA59, TA110, and TA194). Based on foreground selection, 28 plants were found heterozygous in BC1F3 for the target alleles. The backcross offspring do not show the wilt incidence in the field in comparison with the donor and recurrent parent, and ultimately, it leads to an increase in the yield. The identified plants were used for the phenotypic evaluation of different agronomic traits. The BC1F3-22 plants were taller (75 cm) than the recurrent parent (48 cm), and the mean height of all BC1F3 lines was more than that of the recurrent parent, PKV Kabuli-4 (54.92 cm). The minimum duration required to attain 50% flowering was 49 days for the BC1F3-21 plant, which is shorter than that needed by the recurrent parent. The highest number of primary branches was observed for plant BC1F3-25 (9), which is more than the recurrent (2) and donor parent (7). The days required for the physiological maturity of the BC1F3-12 plant were low compared to both parents. The highest number of pods per plant was recorded in BC1F3-28 (176), surpassing both the donor and recurrent parent. The seed weight of backcross plants is higher than that of donor parents. The grain yield observed in backcross plants was higher than the donor parent. The utilization of MABC is the most effective and environmentally friendly approach for introgressing complex traits into popular cultivars. There is a need for the deployment of marker-assisted breeding for early generation selection for the target traits.