Inheritance studies on Fusarium wilt resistance in long duration pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.]

Fusarium wilt (FW) is a major fungal disease of pigeonpea causing huge economic losses annually and breeding of FW resistant cultivars is essential as other control measures such as fungicides are expensive and harmful to environment. To understand the inheritance of FW resistance, nine populations each of F-1, F-2 and BCSF1 (F-1 x susceptible parent) derived from crossing between three adopted but susceptible long duration pigeonpea cultivars (MA-6, MAL-13 and MAL-18) with three FW resistant lines (BSMR-846, BWR-23 and BDN-2029). All F-1 plants were resistant to FW indicating the dominance of resistance. The chi(2) test for goodness-of-fit showed F-2 segregation ratio of 13:3 (one dominant and one recessive), 15:1 (two dominant genes) and 3:1 (one dominant gene) in BSMR-846, BWR-23 and BDN-2029, respectively. The information generated on the genetics of FW resistance will be helpful in development of high yielding and stable wilt resistant, long duration pigeonpea varieties.