Resistance of Wild Relatives (Cicer Reticulatum and C. Echinospermum) of Chickpea (C. Arietinum) to the Root-Lesion Nematode Pratylenchius Neglectus

Resistance of Wild Relatives (Cicer Reticulatum and C. Echinospermum) of Chickpea (C. Arietinum) to the Root-Lesion Nematode Pratylenchius Neglectus

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a major legume crop consumed worldwide. Its nutritional value as a pulse and its ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen denote its global importance in the cereal-pulse cropping systems. Australia is the largest exporter and second largest producer of chickpea after India. Pratylenchus neglectus (Rensch) Filipjev & Schuurmans-Stekhoven is a root-lesion nematode that invades, feeds, and reproduces in the roots of grain crops including chickpea and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). In Australia, chickpea and wheat are commonly grown in rotation and damage by P. neglectus accounts for a large annual economic loss in production of both crops. Cultivated chickpea has little genetic diversity limiting the potential for improvement to abiotic and biotic resistance through plant breeding. However, the chickpea genepool may be expanded through introgression of favourable genes present in wild related species. New germplasm collections from southeast Turkey of two wild species, C. reticulatum Ladizinsky and C. echinospermum P.H. Davis, have substantially increased the previously limited world collection of these species. This research assessed 243 C. reticulatum and 86 C. echinospermum accessions from the 2013 and 2014 collection missions that spanned 32 collection sites within Turkey. The accessions were assessed in replicated pot experiments under controlled glasshouse conditions. Multi-experiment analyses to determine genetic rankings of accessions showed improved resistance in wild Cicer accessions compared to Australia’s elite moderately resistant breeding cultivar PBA HatTrick. This study is unique, evaluating P. neglectus resistance of this collection and providing important information on P. neglectus-chickpea interactions which is lacking worldwide. This study has revealed new sources of P. neglectus resistance that can be introgressed into commercial chickpea cultivars to improve the diversity and level of resistance that chickpea has to this nematode species. Results from this study will contribute to a genome wide association study to identify markers and candidate genes for P. neglectus resistance. Chickpea cultivars with improved resistance provide growers with more flexible crop rotations, a reduction of P. neglectus population densities in infested fields and more profitable yields.

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