Screening for resistant sources in chickpea genotypes against Fusarium wilt, Fusarium Oxysporumf. Sp. ciceris

Host plant resistance is the best way to control the key disease of chickpea caused by Fusarium wilt, Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceris. This study aimed to find new sources of resistance in chickpea genotypes against Fusarium wilt. The experiment was conducted in the 2019 and 2021 seasons at the sick plot at the International Center of Agricultural Research in the Dry Area ICARDA, Terbol station, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. The experiment was laid out in an augmented block design (ABD), and the susceptible check (highly susceptible line) ILC482 was repeated after every ten rows. The level of resistance and susceptibility of each test line was determined by using a 1-9 disease scale reported by Iqbal et al., 1993. The total number of genotypes tested in this study was 1485. The first round of evaluation (2018/2019) identified 934 lines (63%) that were moderately resistant with a wilt incidence <20%. The second round of the assessment (2020/2021) confirmed the resistance of 23 genotypes with a wilt incidence of <10% infection rate, 14 genotypes with a wilt incidence of <5% infection rate, and only 2 genotypes without any symptoms. These genotypes may be exploited for the development of resistant cultivars against wilt and can be used for the further development of resistant lines against Fusarium wilt in the future.