Vol. 11, Issue 11 (2022)

During crop production, brinjal is prone to various diseases. Among them, leaf blight and fruit rot disease caused by Phomopsis vexans is one of the most detrimental diseases causing a huge loss in terms of production, productivity including quality of the crop which is still a major challenge to pathologists and breeders. The most suitable approach is the use of resistant genotypes as a source for the development of high-yielding cultivars to avoid seed-borne disease incidence. Many researchers have identified resistant sources but limited success has been achieved in developing resistant cultivars. Regular identification of resistant sources is necessary for successfully protecting the crop from disease. In the present studies, an extensive screening of thirty-four genotypes which includes a few elite lines, a few local genotypes, a few hybrids and many released varieties has been done against fruit rot pathogen through artificial inoculation of conidial suspension. Based on the screening, the wide spectrum of genotypes was classified into five different categories namely highly resistant (Pant Samrat, G-204, G-175, G-131, G-9 and DB-7) resistant (G-203, G-31, Pusa Upkar, Arka Nidhi and Bhangar Local) moderately resistant (G-43, Kashi Sandesh, Pusa Uttam, G-23, DB-9, Pusa Safed, Pant Rituraj and Arka Kusumarkar) susceptible (G-160, G-145, G-65, G-10, G-5, G-22, Pusa Shymla and Pusa Kaushal) and highly susceptible (G-17, G-109, G-60, G-181, G-164, Pusa Kranti and Pusa Bindu) on the basis of the percentage of fruit infection. Screening against pathogens and then classifying them into different categories based on the level of response to pathogens gives complete information to breeders to utilize in the development of resistant genotypes.