RESISTANCE IN KABULI CHICKPEAS TO FUSARIUM-WILT

Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris) is a major constraint to production of kabuli chickpeas (Cicer arietinum) in the Mediterranean basin. To identify sources of resistance to Fusarium wilt for use in a breeding program, 1,904 lines, including 713 lines tolerant to Ascochyta (Ascochyta rabiei) blight and cold bred at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and 991 germ plasm lines, were screened in a field plot heavily infested with F. o. ciceris at Santaella, Cordoba, Spain, in 1987 and 1989. Nine lines, FLIP 84-43C (ILC-5411), FLIP 85-20C, FLIP 85-29C, FLIP 85-30C, ILC-127, ILC-219, ILC-237, ILC-267, and ILC-513, were highly resistant with 0-9% dead plants. Inoculations of 17 selected lines, including FLIP 84-43 C, ILC-127, ILC-219, ILC-237, and ILC-513, with races 0 and 5 of F. o. ciceris and with isolates Fo 8726 and Fo 8733 of the pathogen not characterized to race from affected plants in the field plot, indicated that all lines were resistant to race 0, and only one (FLIP 85-130 C) was resistant to race 5 and isolate Fo 8726. The reaction of breeding lines in the field was correlated primarily to reactions induced by race 0 and isolate Fo 8733. Lines that showed resistance in the field were susceptible to race 5 and to isolate Fo 8726, except for ILC-219, ILC-256, ILC-487, and ILC-513, which were resistant to isolate Fo 8726 but not to race 5.