Evaluation of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) genotypes against pigeonpea sterility mosaic disease

Abstract

Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) is a drought-resistant pulse crop cultivated in the semi-arid regions of the world. Sterility mosaic disease (SMD) also known as “green plague of pigeonpea” is one of the severe threats in pigeonpea production causing severe yield loss. To overcome this issue, breeding for resistant varieties is considered to be one of the most effective and economic methods of reducing the crop losses and has received the top priority. Ninety four genotypes including checks were screened for SMD resistance by adopting leaf stapling technique at glass house condition. Based on the percent disease incidence (PDI), the genotypes could be classified as highly resistant (0%) and highly susceptible (100%). out of ninety four genotypes screened , four genotypes i.e., DPP 2-89, DPP 3-182, IC 22557 and ICP 3666 showed highly resistant reaction to SMD infection while fifty four genotypes were highly susceptible. Therefore, these four genotypes may be utilized for SMD resistance breeding programme.