Plant Genomics

Biography

Biography: D. M. Mannur

Abstract

Chickpea is an important food legume cultivated and consumed across the Indian subcontinent. Fusarium wilt is the major constraint in chickpea production. The wilt race confined to Northern-Karnataka region is caused by soil borne fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris (foc 4). Thus marker assisted backcrossing (MABC) was attempted to introgress the foc 4 loci from WR-315 (wilt resistant) to elite cultivar Annegeri-1(A-1: wilt susceptible) (A-1 × WR-315). For MABC three markers TA96, TA27-F and TR19-V conferring the foc 4 loci were used in foreground selection. Background selection was employed using 40 SSR markers that were evenly distributed on to all the 8 LG of chickpea genome. After two backcrosses and two rounds selfing, 67 families were found to be resistant to wilt under wilt sick garden and possessed good background genome recovery (78.85 – 94.83 %). Of the 67 BC2F3 families top ten elite families with recurrent parent genome recovery of 91.07 – 94.83 % were selected. The selected lines were homozygous and stable. Stringent phenotypic evaluation of advanced lines of BC2F3 families in wilt sick garden could confirm resistance to fusarium wilt Race-4. These elite lines are being evaluated for yield and yield attributing traits in multi-location trails to identify the best possible line as compared to local check for release and general cultivation in Northern-Karnataka region. The present investigation was accomplished with speedy development of elite “Super Annigeri-1” cultivar resistant to fusarium wilt grain yield advantage that was otherwise susceptible, as early as in two backcrosses and selfing.