Vol. 12, Issue 1 (2023)

Author(s):
Bana Sravani, Dr. TK Narute, Dr. SB Latake, Dr. Sunil Dalvi and Dr. SV Kolase

Abstract:
Chickpea is widely consumed dietary legume contributing 18% of global pulse production. Standing third position after beans and peas, chickpea produces about 12.09 MT annually in the world. Unexpected climatic changes imposed several abiotic and biotic stresses on yield and productivity of chickpea. Among them, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris (Foc) is a major soil born pathogen which causes 10-100% yield losses. In earlier studies chitosan and Bacillus subtilis sp were reported by many scientists as bioagents in management of diseases in crops. To overcome wilt problem in chickpea, attempts were made to identify the significant use of chitosan nanoparticles and Bacillus sp against wilt pathogen. In present experiment, root dip method demonstrated that chitosan and Bacillus sp treated gram seeds when fed with Fusarium spore suspension survived more days as compared to the untreated seeds. The seedlings with chitosan nanoparticles at 100 and 150 ppm and CNPs + bioagent at all concentrations survived for 22 days without displaying any symptoms of wilting. While in the case of negative and positive control, wilting started at 15 and 17 days of sowing respectively. Whereas, in the case of bioagent alone treated ones started wilting after 18 DAS. It is revealed that chitosan nanoparticles at 100 and 150 ppm when combined with Bacillus subtilis showed a synergistic effect of induced disease resistance in chickpea treatments at the early seedling stage for wilt resistance. Therefore, this is very simple and rapid method for screening induced resistance at early stage which will help for evaluation of bioagents for their use.