Screening Wild Cicer Species for Resistance to Fusarium Wilt. A. Infantino, Research Fellow, Istituto Sperimentale per la Patologia Vegetale (ISPV), Via C.G. Bertero 22, 1-00156 Rome, Italy . A. Porta-Puglia, K. B. Singh. Plant Dis. 80:42-44. Accepted for publication 20 June 1995. Copyright 1996 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-80-0042.

Wilt, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri, is the most widespread soilborne disease of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L). In an attempt to identify new sources of resistance to wilt, 102 accessions of six wild annual Cicer species were evaluated in the greenhouse. The isolate from central Italy used in this experiment has been characterized by using a set of chickpea differential lines. Highly resistant reaction to wilt was shown by all accessions of C. bijugum and some of C. echinospermum, C. judaicum, C. pinnatifidum, and C. reticulatum. Both accessions of C. yamashitae were susceptible. This evaluation has helped to identify new and diverse sources of resistance to wilt for use in chickpea breeding. Six accessions of C. bijugum (ILWC-64, -71, -73, -76, -80, and -83), one accession (ILWC-186) of C. judaicum, and two accessions (ILWC-126, and -130) of C. reticulatum were free from wilt damage.