Review Paper on Status, Distribution and the Management of Chickpea, Botrytis Grey Mould (Botrytis cinerea)

Abstract

Botrytis grey mould (BGM), caused by Botrytis cinerea Pers. ex. Fr., is an economically important disease of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), especially in areas where cool, cloudy and humid weather persists. Several epidemics of BGM causing complete crop loss in the major chickpea producing countries have been reported. The pathogen B. cinerea mainly survives between seasons on infected crop debris and seeds. Despite extensive investigations on pathological, physiological and molecular characteristics of B. cinerea causing grey mould type diseases on chickpea and several other hosts, the nature of infection processes and genetic basis of pathogen variability have not been clearly established. Effective and repeatable controlled environment and field screening techniques have been developed for identification of HPR of the selected portion of chickpea germplasm evaluated for BGM resistance, only few accessions belonging to both cultivated and wild Cicer spp. were tolerant to BGM, and the search for higher levels of disease resistance continues. BGM management should not completely rely on the use of fungicides, as development of fungicide resistance in B. cinerea has been commonly observed. An adequate level of genetic resistance to BGM is not available in the cultivated genotypes and fungicides become ineffective during conditions of high disease pressure. Hence, integrated disease management (IDM) using the available management options is essential to successfully manage the disease and mitigate yield losses. Further information on the biology of B. cinerea and epidemiology of the disease is needed to strengthen the IDM programs. In this paper the biology of B. cinerea including its variability, epidemiology of BGM, identified sources of resistance and other management options and available information on biochemical and genetic basis of disease resistance have been reviewed with a mention of future research priorities.

Keywords: Chickpea, Botrytis grey mould disease management