MOLECULAR VARIABILITY AMONG DIFFERENT ISOLATES OF Fusarium solani CAUSING ROOT ROT IN CHICKPEA BY USING MARKER RAPD AND SSR

Looking into the nature of pathogens involved, there is no alternative but to go for developing resistant varieties of chickpea rather than the excessive use of fungicides for management of this disease. There are limited root rot resistant genotypes having good agronomical characters. In such situation, the resistant genotypes need to be used precisely in breeding programme. Variation is a rule in most of the root infecting fungi. The variation may arise following change in crop cultivation, genetic modification of hosts, physical or chemical modification of the soil, environment or accidental introduction of new genetic material into a region in local gene pool. It may also be a way of survival of the pathogen under adverse conditions. In order to have the specific breeding programme, it is necessary to determine the genetic variability among the isolates of Fusarium solani at molecular level, so as the breeding programme for specific root rot resistant varieties could be initiated.The present investigation will help to understand the genetic variability among the isolates of Fusarium solani, which in turn will be useful for its exploitation in chickpea region breeding programme specific collar rot resistant variety. The Characterization of the population structure of fungal pathogens is important for understanding the biology of the organism and for development of disease-control strategies. Therefore, Molecular techniques are important analytical tools for the characterization and diagnosis of microbial population.