~ 1030 ~ Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2019; 8(1): 1030-1032 E-ISSN: 2278-4136 P-ISSN: 2349-8234 JPP 2019; 8(1): 1030-1032 Received: 19-11-2018 Accepted: 21-12-2018 Jagdish Kumar Patidar Department of Plant Pathology, Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India Reeti Singh Department of Plant Pathology, Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India Prashant Kumar Singh Department of Plant Pathology, Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India Pramod Kumar Fatehpuria Department of Plant Pathology, Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India Correspondence Jagdish Kumar Patidar Department of Plant Pathology, Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India Screening of chickpea lines against dry root rot of chickpea caused by Rhizoctonia bataticola (Taub.) butler Jagdish Kumar Patidar, Reeti Singh, Prashant Kumar Singh and Pramod Kumar Fatehpuria Abstract Chickpea is an important pulse crop, ranking first among pulse crops in Madhya Pradesh and third in India. Chickpea dry root rot caused by Rhizoctonia bataticola is the most important disease and causes severe losses in yield In the investigation, 126 chickpea genotypes were evaluated to find out the resistance reaction against dry root rot under dry root rot sick micro-plots during rabi season of 2014- 2015 and 2015-2016. Out of 126 genotypes tested against root rot disease 22 were found resistant, 43 were moderately resistant, 37 were moderately susceptible, 7 were susceptible and 17 were highly susceptible to dry root rot disease. Keywords: Chickpea, dry root rot, genotypes, screening, Rhizoctonia bataticola Introduction Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the premier pulse crop grown in more than 50 countries, originated in south west Asia and cultivated from ancient times both in Asia and European countries. It is the world’s second most important food legume next to French bean. Asia accounts 89.20% of the chickpea area and 84.47% of production. The major chickpea producing countries, which contribute about 88% of the global chickpea production, include India (64.58%), Australia (7.22%), Myanmar (4.62%), Pakistan (4.27%), Turkey (3.76%), and Ethiopia (3.67%) (Anonymous, 2015-16) [2] . Dry root rot of chickpea caused by Rhizoctonia bataticola (Taub.) Butler is emerging as a serious threat to the chickpea production worldwide (Pande and Sharma, 2010) [8] . Dry root rot mostly appears at late flowering and podding stages and the infected plants appear completely dried. Among the several constraints affecting the productivity of chickpea, 10-35 per cent loss in yields are due to wilt and dry root rot diseases (Pal, 1998) [7] . Among them, dry root rot caused by Rhizoctonia bataticola is becoming severe in most of the chickpea growing regions of Madhya Pradesh. R. bataticola is a polyphagous soil borne pathogen infecting over 500 plant species worldwide causing huge losses. Though, the fungus is seed and soil borne (Dhingra and Sinclair, 1994) [4] , however, soil borne inoculum is more important in causing infection and disease development. Management of dry root rot thought chemicals is not effective as R. bataticola has a broad host range and survives in soil for extended periods in the form of sclerotia. The scleratia will survive up to ten months even within the absence of the host plants and beneath prevailing dry soil conditions. Use of host plant resistance is that the most economical approach for management of dry root in chickpea. The present investigation was undertaken to find out the resistance source against dry root rot disease. Material and methods In the investigation, 126 chickpea germplasm/varieties were evaluated to find out the resistance reaction against dry root rot under dry root rot sick micro-plots. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design which was replicated twice during 2014-15 and 2015-16. The soil sterilized with formaldehyde (2 per cent) was filled in cemented pits. Inoculum of R. bataticola was multiplied on sorghum grain for artificial inoculation. The sorghum grains were washed in the tap water. After washing, sorghum grains were soaked in tap water for 12 hrs, and filled into polythene bags (300 g/bag). The grains were autoclaved for 2 subsequent days at 1.1 kg/cm 2 for 30 minutes and inoculated with 3-days old culture of R. bataticola. Inoculated polythene bags were incubated at 25 ±1 0 C for 15 days. The R. bataticola inoculated sorghum seeds were placed in each line. The seeds of the test line were sown in infested soil.