Abstract
An investigation was carried out to identify and characterize the phytoplasma and viruses associated with the chickpea varieties showing severe stunting, leaf reddening, yellowing and phyllody symptoms during the summer season of 2018–2019 and 2019–2020 in eight states of India. The average disease incidence was recorded from 3 to 32% in different states. The presence of chickpea chlorotic dwarf virus (CpCDV) was confirmed in thirty-seven chickpea samples by amplification of CpCDV coat protein gene and sequence comparison analysis. No record of association of luteovirus, polerovirus and cucumovirus could be detected in any of the symptomatic chickpea samples by RT-PCR assay. Brassica nigra, B. juncea, Lens culinaris, two weeds (Heteropogan contartus, Aeschynomene virginica) and one leafhopper (Amarasca biguttula) were identified as new putative hosts for CpCDV. Association of peanut witches’ broom phytoplasma was confirmed in twenty-eight chickpea samples, Sesamum indicum, five weeds hosts and two leafhopper species (Exitianus indicus, Empoasca motti) using nested PCR assays with primer pairs P1/P7 and R16F2n/R16Rn. The results of phytoplasma association in plants and leafhopper samples were further validated by using five multilocus genes (secA, rp, imp, tuf and secY) specific primers. Sequence comparison, phylogenetic and virtual RFLP analysis of 16S rRNA gene and five multilocus genes confirmed the identity of association of 16SrII-C and 16SrII-D subgroups of phytoplasmas strain with chickpea samples collected from Andhra Pradesh (AP), Telangana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi. Mixed infection of phytoplasma (16SrII-D) and CpCDV was also detected in symptomatic chickpea samples from AP and Telangana. The reports of association of 16SrII-C subgroup phytoplasma in chickpea and 16SrII-D subgroup phytoplasma in C. sparsiflora and C. roseus are the new host records in world and from India, respectively.
Highlights
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), known as bengal gram, belongs to family fabaceae and is cultivated in more than 50 countries of Asia, Europe, Australia, North America andSouth America
Madhya Pradesh (MP), Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Andhra Pradesh (AP), Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand states contribute more than 95% of the total chickpea production in the country
Severe stunting, yellowing and leaf crinkling symptoms were observed in Brassica nigra (Fig. 2b) grown nearby chickpea fields at Kurnool district, AP, in 2019–2020
Summary
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), known as bengal gram, belongs to family fabaceae and is cultivated in more than 50 countries of Asia, Europe, Australia, North America and. The highest productivity of 4,770.82 kg/ha is recorded in Israel followed by China, Uzbekistan Yemen and Egypt, whereas India’s average productivity is only 935.34 kg/ha (Merga and Haji 2019). In India, chickpea is grown almost in all parts of the country mainly as a rainfed crop (68% area). During 2018–2019, chickpea production in India has been estimated to be about 10.09 million tons, which is about 43% of the total pulse production (23.22 mt) in India. Madhya Pradesh (MP), Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Andhra Pradesh (AP), Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand states contribute more than 95% of the total chickpea production in the country. The area, production and productivity of chickpea in India
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