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Genetics of Chickpea Resistance to Five Races of Fusarium Wilt and a Concise Set of Race Differentials for Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris

Genetics of resistance in chickpea accession WR-315 to Fusarium wilt was investigated, and a concise set of differentials was developed to identify races of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris. A population of 100 F₇ recombinant inbred lines (RILs) from a cross of WR-315 (resistant) and C-104 (susceptible) was used to study genetics of resistance to races 1A, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of F. oxysporum f. sp. ciceris, and a population of 26 F₂ plants from a cross between the same two parents was used to study inheritance of resistance to race 2. Segregations of the RILs for resistance to each of the five races suggest that single genes in WR-315 govern resistance to each of the five races. A 1:3 resistant to susceptible ratio in the F₂ population indicated that resistance in WR-315 to race 2 was governed by a single recessive gene. A race-specific slow disease progress reaction was observed in chickpea line FLIP84-92C(3) to infection by race 2, a phenomenon termed as slow wilting, that is different from previously reported late wilting with respect to latent period, disease progress rate, and final disease rating. Twenty-nine germ plasm lines (27 Cicer arietinum and two C. reticulatum) including previously used differentials were evaluated for their reactions to infection by the five races. Only eight of the 29 germ plasm lines differentiated at least one of the five races based on either resistant or susceptible reactions, whereas the remaining germ plasm lines were either susceptible or resistant to all five races or differentiated them by intermediate reactions. A concise set of eight chickpea lines comprised of four genotypes and four F₇ RILs with vertical resistance was developed as differentials for race identification in F. oxysporum f. sp. ciceris. These differential lines were characterized by early appearance of wilt symptoms, and clear and consistent disease phenotypes based on no wilt or 100% wilt incidence, which offers important improvements over previously available differential sets and provides more precise and unambiguous identification of the races.