Evaluation of Chickpea Accessions Against Root-knot Nematode, Meloidogyne incognita

Abstract

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is an excellent source of high quality protein. During last three decades chickpea cultivation area has decreased progressively in the country, various pests and diseases including nematodes being some of the factors for reducing yield of this crop. About ten species of plant parasitic nematodes have been found associated with this crop. Among them, the root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita is most predominant and causes 25-60% yield loss (Ali, 1997). Keeping this fact in view, a green house experiment was conducted to identify resistant genotypes, which could be exploited in breeding programme for development of resistant commercial cultivars.