MOLECULAR VARIABILITY IN ISOLATES OF Sclerotium rolfsii CAUSING COLLAR ROT IN CHICKPEA

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 Sclerotium rolfsii at molecular level, so as the breeding programme for specific collar rot resistant varieties could be initiated. The present investigation will help to understand the genetic variability among the isolates of Sclerotium rolfsii of Maharashtra, which in turn will be useful for its exploitation in chickpea region breeding programme specific collar rot resistant variety.