Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer
Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 13 No. sp5 (2026): Recent Advances in Agriculture

Assessment of genetic variability among monoconidial isolates of Magnaporthe grisea causing pearl millet blast in Haryana, India

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.15030
Submitted
17 April 2026
Published
23-09-2026

Abstract

Magnaporthe grisea (syn. Pyricularia oryzae) is the causative agent of Pearl millet blast disease and is among the most destructive fungal pathogens affecting various crops from the family Poaceae worldwide. The pathogen's genetic variability plays a critical role in understanding its adaptability, virulence and resistance to control measures. To assess the genetic variability among Magnaporthe grisea isolates (Mg), 16 M. grisea isolates were obtained from pearl millet blast-infected samples collected from different geographical locations of Haryana. The present study was conducted at the Department of Plant Pathology, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, during 2021–2022 and evaluated the correlation between genetic variability and geographic distribution. The genetic variability of M. grisea isolates was assessed by using 9 inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) molecular markers. The dendrogram based on Jaccard’s similarity index divided 16 M. grisea isolates into 2 major groups at a similarity coefficient of 0.47. Major cluster “A” comprised 13 isolates, while cluster “B” had only 3 isolates. The cluster analysis showed that the isolate Mg 4 collected from Nuh, Mg 6 collected from Rewari and Mg 16 collected from Mahender Garh districts were most diverse and isolates Mg 10 and Mg 12 collected from Charkhi Dadri and Bhiwani districts had the highest similarity coefficient among all 16 M. grisea isolates. The ISSR-based cluster analysis revealed a correlation between the genetic grouping of M. grisea isolates and their geographical origins.

References

  1. 1. Wilson JP, Burton GW, Wells HD, Zongo JD, Dicko IO. Leaf spot, rust and smut resistance in pearl millet landraces. Plant Dis. 1989;73:345–9. https://doi.org/10.1094/PD-73-0345
  2. 2. Yadav DP, Rai KN, Gupta SK. Pearl millet: genetic improvement for tolerance to abiotic stresses. In: Tuteja N, Singh Gill SS, Tuteja R, editors. Improving crop productivity in sustainable agriculture. 1st ed. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA; 2012. p. 261–88. https://doi.org/10.1002/9783527665334.ch12
  3. 3. Chandra Nayaka S, Srivastava RK, Udayashankar AC, Lavanya SN, Prakash G, Bishnoi HR, et al. Magnaporthe blast of pearl millet in India: Present status and future prospects. Hyderabad: ICAR-All India Coordinated Research Project on Pearl Millet; 2017.
  4. 4. Andrews DJ, Kumar KA. Pearl millet for food, feed and forage. Adv Agron. 1992;48:89–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2113(08)60936-0
  5. 5. Yadav R, Bharti O, Pandya RK, Thakur MP, Yadav A. Correlation study of individual meteorological parameters and disease severity for prediction of pearl millet blast. Int J Curr Res. 2016;8(11):41580–2.
  6. 6. Malik VK, Sangwan P, Singh M, Punia R, Yadav DV, Kumari P, Pahuja SK. First report of Klebsiella aerogenes inciting stem rot of pearl millet in Haryana, India. Plant Dis. 2022;106(2):754. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-05-21-1019-PDN
  7. 7. Malik VK, Sangwan P, Singh M, Kumari P, Sheoran N, Ahalawat N, et al. Stem rot of pearl millet: Prevalence, symptomatology, disease cycle, disease rating scale and pathogen characterization in the pearl millet-Klebsiella pathosystem. Plant Pathol J. 2024;40(1):48–54. https://doi.org/10.5423/PPJ.OA.09.2023.0126
  8. 8. Ashajyothi M, Balamurugan A, Shashikumara P, Pandey N, Agarwal DK, Tarasatyavati CC, et al. First report of pearl millet bacterial leaf blight caused by Pantoea stewartii subspecies indologenes in India. Plant Dis. 2021;105(11):3736. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-03-21-0669-PDN
  9. 9. Mehta PR, Singh B, Mathur SC. A new leaf spot disease of bajra (Pennisetum typhoides) caused by a species of Pyricularia. Indian Phytopathol. 1952;5(2):140–3.
  10. 10. Yadav P, Malik VK, Sarita, Vashisht P. Survey on pearl millet blast incidence and severity in major pearl millet growing districts of Haryana. Forage Res. 2022;48(3):407–11.
  11. 11. Ou SH. Rice diseases. 2nd ed. Kew: Commonwealth Mycological Institute; 1985.
  12. 12. Dean RA, Talbot NJ, Ebbole DJ, Farman ML, Mitchell TK, Orbach MJ, et al. The genome sequence of the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea. Nature. 2005;434:980–6. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03449
  13. 13. Kang HW, Park DS, Go SJ, Eun MY. Fingerprinting of diverse genomes using PCR with universal rice primers generated from repetitive sequences of Korean weedy rice. Mol Cells. 2001;13(2):281–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1016-8478(23)15034-5
  14. 14. Jayaswal D, Priyadarshini P, Tilgam J, Choudhury S, Yadav VK, Noonjingarakuzhi SN, et al. Achievements of agricultural biotechnology: An initiative to double the farmer's income through cutting-edge technology. Indian J Biochem Biophys. 2022;59:793–9. https://doi.org/10.56042/ijbb.v59i8.62344
  15. 15. Chadha S, Gopalakrishna T. Detection of Magnaporthe grisea in infested rice seeds using polymerase chain reaction. J Appl Microbiol. 2006;100(5):1147–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2672.2006.02920.x
  16. 16. Dhua U. A selective method for isolating Pyricularia from blast lesions. Curr Sci. 1986;55(8):410–1.
  17. 17. Rajashekara H, Prakash G, Pandian RTP, Sarkel S, Dubey A, Sharma P, et al. An efficient technique for isolation and mass multiplication of Magnaporthe grisea from blast infected samples. Indian Phytopathol. 2016;69(4s):68-71.
  18. 18. Murray MG, Thompson WF. Rapid isolation of high molecular weight plant DNA. Nucleic Acids Res.1980;8(19):4321–5. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/8.19.4321
  19. 19. Ghislain M, Zhang D, Fajardo D, Huamán Z, Hijmans RJ. Marker-assisted sampling of the cultivated Andean potato Solanum phureja collection using RAPD markers. Genet Res Crop Evol. 1999;46:547-555. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008724007888
  20. 20. Rohlf FJ. NTSYS-PC numerical taxonomy and multivariate analysis system. New York: Applied Biostatistics, Exeter Publishing Ltd.; 2000..
  21. 21. Rohlf FJ. NTSYS-pc: Numerical taxonomy and multivariate analysis system. Version 2.2. Setauket (NY): Exeter Software; 2000.
  22. 22. Sonah H, Deshmukh RK, Parida SK, Chand S, Kotasthane A. Morphological and genetic variation among different isolates of Magnaporthe grisea collected from Chhattisgarh. Indian Phytopathol. 2009;62(4):469–77.
  23. 23. Kaye C, Milazzo J, Rozenfeld S, Lebrun MH, Tharreau D. The development of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers for Magnaporthe grisea and their integration into an established genetic linkage map. Fungal Genet Biol. 2003;40(3):207–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fgb.2003.08.001
  24. 24. Zheng Y, Zhang G, Lin F, Wang Z, Jin G, Yang L, et al. Development of microsatellite markers and construction of a genetic map in the rice blast pathogen Magnaporthe grisea. Fungal Genet Biol. 2008;45(10):1340–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fgb.2008.07.012
  25. 25. Zietkiewicz E, Rafalski A, Labuda D. Genome fingerprinting by simple sequence repeat (SSR)-anchored polymerase chain reaction amplification. Genomics. 1994;20(2):176–83. https://doi.org/10.1006/geno.1994.1151
  26. 26. Li CY, Li JB, Liu L, Yang J, Su Y, Wang YY, et al. Development of minisatellite markers in phytopathogenic fungus Magnaporthe grisea. Mol Ecol Notes. 2007;7(6):978–80. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-8286.2007.01742.x
  27. 27. Parihar P, Pandya RK, Singh P, Tiwari S, Tripathi MK, Tripathi N, et al. Elucidation of molecular variability among isolates of Pyricularia grisea causing blast disease in forage pearl millet. Range Manag Agrofor. 2023;44(2):278–87. https://doi.org/10.59515/rma.2023.v44.i2.09
  28. 28. Anjum SS, Nagaraja A, Nagamma G, Patil S, Konda S, Channabyre Gowda MV. Molecular variability of finger millet isolates of Pyricularia grisea from different regions of India using SSR markers. J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2016;10(1):437–46. https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.10.1.59
  29. 29. Dhivya M, Senthilraja G, Tharmalingam N, Harish S, Saravanakumari K, Anand T, et al. Analysis of genetic diversity and population structure of Magnaporthe grisea, the causal agent of foxtail millet blast using microsatellites. PeerJ. 2023;11:e16258. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.16258
  30. 30. Gupta SK, Sharma R, Rai KN, Thakur RP. Inheritance of foliar blast resistance in pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L. (R.) Br.). Plant Breed. 2012;131(1):217–9. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0523.2011.01929.x
  31. 31. Sharma R, Upadhyaya HD, Manjunatha SV, Rai KN, Gupta SK, Thakur RP. Pathogenic variation in the pearl millet blast pathogen Magnaporthe grisea and identification of resistance to diverse pathotypes. Plant Dis. 2013;97(2):189–95. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-05-12-0481-RE
  32. 32. Vanaraj P, Kandasamy S, Ambalavanan S, Ramalingam R, Sabariyappan R. Variability in Pyricularia oryzae from different rice growing regions of Tamil Nadu, India. Afr J Microbiol Res. 2013;7(26):3379–88. https://doi.org/10.5897/AJMR12.1286
  33. 33. Palanna KB, Ramesh GV, Koti PS, Vinaykumar HD, Bhandhari D, Raveendra HR, et al. Deciphering mating type and population genetic landscape of Magnaporthe population adapted to millets and rice in blast hotspots of India. Arch Microbiol. 2025;207:197. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-025-04398-w

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.