Stability and suitability of genotypes and environment to Ascochyta blight of chickpea

Mamta Sharma; U S Sharath Chandran; Upasana Rani; Sudhir K Singh; Ashwani K Basandrai; Daisy Basandrai

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1006099

Stability and suitability of genotypes and environment to Ascochyta blight of chickpea

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Mar 28:14:1006099. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1006099. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Mamta Sharma^{1

2}, U S Sharath Chandran^{1

2}, Upasana Rani³, Sudhir K Singh⁴, Ashwani K Basandrai⁵, Daisy Basandrai⁶

Affiliations

¹ Precision Phenotyping for Biotic-Abiotic Stresses and Nutrition, Accelerated Crop Improvement, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru, India.
² Center of Excellence on Climate Change Research for Plant Protection, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru, India.
³ Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India.
⁴ Organic Farming Research Centre, Chatha, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu, India.
⁵ Department of Plant Pathology, CSK Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur, India.
⁶ Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, CSK Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur, India.

Abstract

Ascochyta blight (AB) is a major biotic constraint to chickpea production internationally. The disease caused by the phytopathogenic fungus Ascochyta rabiei is highly favored by prolonged spells of low temperature and high humidity. The disease scenario is expected to aggravate in the near future as a result of rapidly changing climatic conditions and the emergence of fungicide-resistant pathogen strains. Tapping into host-plant resistance is the most logical way to preempt such a crisis. Presently, high levels of stable resistance against AB are yet to be identified from the chickpea gene pool. The present study was aimed at facilitating this process through multi-environment testing of chickpea genotypes. Using the GGE biplot analysis method, we could identify three genotypes, viz., ICCV 16508, ICCV 16513, and ICCV 16516, from the International Ascochyta Blight Nursery, which showed consistent moderate resistance reactions across all the tested environments. Moreover, we were able to evaluate the test locations for their suitability to support AB screening trials. Ludhiana and Palampur locations were identified as the most ideal for continual screening in the future. Controlled environment screening at the ICRISAT location offered to reduce large plant populations to small meaningful sizes through initial screening under controlled environment conditions. This study will further improve the scope of phenotyping and sources of stable resistance to be utilized in future AB resistance breeding programs.

Keywords: Ascochyta blight; G x E interaction; GGE biplots; chickpea; multi-environment testing; principal component analysis.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the CRP-GLDC. The authors are thankful to the Climate Change program under DST, Government of India, for partial funding and support for the study.