Impact of Soil Moisture and Temperature on the Epidemiology of Collar Rot of Chickpea Caused by Sclerotium rolfsii (Sacc.) and Assessment of Yield Loss

Abstract

Background: Collar rot (CR) of chickpea instigated by Sclerotium rolfsii (Sacc.) is one of the most prevalent soil-borne pathogens and identified as one of the major production constraints in chickpea worldwide. Potential threat exerted by the pathogen is greatly influenced by soil moisture condition (SMC) and soil temperature (ST), which play a substantial role towards the development of host-pathogen dynamics and bring about havoc yield loss. This study was aimed to enumerate the role of soil temperature and soil moisture in the establishment of CR symptoms in chickpea under controlled environment as well as to determine the relationship between disease severity and yield loss. Methods: All the experiments were carried out at the Department of Plant Pathology, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV), Mohanpur, Nadia. One of the most popular chickpea variety Anuradha was used for two consecutive years (2018-19 and 2019-20) of experiment in the present study. This variety showed a moderately susceptible reaction against CR under natural epiphytotic conditions. Result: The result revealed ST being 25 to 30°C and SM level of 80% is optimal for establishing CR incidence in chickpea. Correlation determined between disease severity and yield loss unveiled loss in yield could be from 0.13 q ha-1 with every 1% increase in disease severity.