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Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 13 No. sp4 (2026): National Symposium on Recent Advances in Life Sciences

Isolation and identification of the dry root rot pathogen Macrophomina phaseolina from chickpea

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.12879
Submitted
23 November 2025
Published
15-06-2026

Abstract

Pulses play a vital role in sustainable agriculture by improving the soil fertility through biological nitrogen fixation and by offering a plentiful supply of nutritional fibre, proteins and minerals that are vital to human health. Among these, chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.) are an important pulse crop in India, making a substantial contribution to the country's agricultural systems and food security. The primary objective of this study is to identify and isolate Macrophomina phaseolina, the pathogen that causes dry root rot (DRR) in the chickpea cultivar GNG 1958, which was collected from the fields of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) in Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan. The fungus was isolated from diseased root samples and cultured on PDA (potato dextrose agar) medium. Pure colonies were obtained through successive sub-culturing and examined for morphological features, which showed dark, septate hyphae and numerous microsclerotia characteristic of M. phaseolina. For molecular confirmation, the isolate named BVCAF12 was submitted to the sequencing facility, National Fungal Culture Collection of India (NFCCI) Pune, where sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region was carried out. Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) analysis of the sequence verified its identity as M. phaseolina and the authenticated sequence has been submitted (Accession number: PP237489) to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) GenBank, demonstrating that it is linked to chickpea dry root rot disease.

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