Downy mildew - A dreaded disease of pearl millet

Pearl Millet is an important coarse cereals providing primary caloric source to millions of people living in subsistence agroecosystems of arid and semiarid tropical system of Asia and Africa. But the main constraints to this crop is downy mildew a dreaded disease caused by Sclerospora graminicola (Sacc) J. is widely distributed and economically significant and major disease on Pearl Millet which causes tremendous losses in India. The severely infected plants remains stunted and do not produced panicles and infected floral parts transferred into leafy structure called as 'green year'. The pathogen is an obligate heterothallic biotroph that generates large variability in its progenies through sexual and asexual reproduction. Virulence shift is monitored through on farm disease survey, multilocation collaborative downy mildew virulence nursery and use of host differentials. DNA markers such as RFLP, SSR, and AFLP have been used to study genetic diversity in Sclerospora graminicola. Both conventional and molecular breeding approaches have been successful in transferring downy mildew resistance genes in hybrid parental lines and developing disease resistant variety / hybrids. Other approaches such as judicious use of seed treatment fungicides like Ridomil or Apron and suitable agronomic practices in combination with host plant resistance would be desirable to prolong the productive life of hybrid cultivars.