In vitro evaluation of fungicides against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri causing wilt of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Introduction

Pulses are important source of dietary protein, and have unique property of maintaining and restoring soil fertility through biological nitrogen fixation as well as conserving, and improving physical properties of soil by virtue of their deep root system and leaf fall. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) (diploid, 2n = 16) is the world's most important food legume crop after dry beans, grown throughout tropical, subtropical and temperate regions in South and West Asia, East and North Africa, southern Europe, North and South America, and Australia. Approximately 13.5 106 mha of chickpea is cultivated in more than 50 countries worldwide that yield nearly 13.1 106 mt (FAOSTAT, 2025) [4] . Of that, 89.2% is grown in Asia and accounts for 84.5% of the world production (FAOSTAT, 2025) [4] . India ranked first in area and production, followed by Pakistan, Iran and Australia with respect to area and Australia, Myanmar with respect to production. Chickpea seeds are a major source of human food and animal feed because of their high content of lysine-rich protein (Jukanti et al., 2012) [5] . Chickpea seed is very rich in protein (Hulse 1991) and considered alternate to meat. It contains 38-59% protein, 3% carbohydrate, 4.8-5.5%, ash fiber 3% oil, 0.3% phosphorus and crude lipid, it also contains amino acids and polyphenol contents with some sort of minerals (Daur et al., 2008) [3] . Chickpea is helpful for lowering blood cholesterol (Pittaway et al., 2008) [8] . Chickpea is relatively economical and a good source of folic acid and tocopherols (Ciftci et al., 2010) [2] . Chickpea is an excellent source of folic acid and contains other water-soluble vitamins like riboflavin, pantothenic acid and pyridoxine. It is rich source of vitamin A, the most important and widely distributed carotenoid is β-carotene converted to vitamin A (Abbo et al., 2005) [1] . It is consumed in various forms, viz. dal, besan, crushed or whole grain, boiled or parched, green grain. Husk is fed to horses and cattle. Chickpea is attacked by a number of seed and soil borne diseases. In recent years there has been concern about gradual decline in per capita availability of pulses. An important reason for this miserable situation in the country is mainly due to the attack of the soil borne pathogens. According to Sarwar et al., (2012) [9] wilt is a major restrictive factor to chickpea production. Wilt of chickpea is caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Ciceri (FOC). It is widely distributed throughout the country and is responsible for heavy reduction in crop yield and quality. Keeping existing research gaps in mind in vitro investigations were carried out to screen eight fungicides at three concentrations through the poisoned food technique.

Materials and Methods

The experiments were conducted at the Postgraduate Laboratory, Department of Plant Pathology, SVPUAT, Meerut. The effect of eight fungicides were tested for their efficacy against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri under in vitro condition. Chemicals were procured from store room, in the Department of Plant Pathology of S.V.P University of Agriculture & Technology Meerut (U.P.). Bioassay test was done by using poisoned food technique as given by Schmitz in 1930. Efficacy of 8 different fungicides were evaluated against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri. The common name, trade name, and concentration (in ppm) of used fungicides are given in the Table 1. [7] tested different fungicides against Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceri. Among the systemic fungicides, Carbendazim was the most effective inhibiting the radial mycelial growth by 100% even at the lowest concertation and among the non-systemic fungicides thiram was most effective in inhibiting the radial and mycelia growth (90.98%) even at the lowest concentration. Magar et al. (2020) [6] tested different fungicides against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri. Among all signifcantly less mycelial growth was recorded with the Tebuconazole, Carboxin + Thiram and Carbendazim + Mancozeb and was 00 mm followed by Thiophanate methyl and Carbendazim (10 mm), Captan (17.66 mm) and Azoxystrobin (47.33 mm) as compared to highest growth (90 mm) in control.

Conclusion

The present investigation demonstrated significant differences in the efficacy of fungicides against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri under laboratory conditions. Thiophanate methyl 70% WP and Carbendazim 12% + Mancozeb 63% WP consistently achieved complete (100%) inhibition of mycelial growth at 50, 100, and 150 ppm throughout the incubation period, indicating their superior fungitoxic activity. Propiconazole 25% EC was the next most effective treatment, recording up to 90.00% inhibition at 150 ppm after 144 hours, followed by Thiram 70% WP (85.00%). In contrast, Thifluzamide 24% SC exhibited the lowest inhibitory effect, with only 68.33-70.00% inhibition at the final observation. These findings suggest that Thiophanate methyl and Carbendazim + Mancozeb possess excellent potential for the effective management of chickpea wilt caused by F. oxysporum f. sp. ciceri. However, further validation under greenhouse and field conditions is necessary before recommending these fungicides as part of an integrated disease management strategy.

References

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