Rhizoctonia bataticola: A serious threat to chickpea production

Abstract

Rhizoctonia bataticola (Taub.) Butler {Pycnidial stage: Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid} is a soil inhabiting fungus which is a serious threat to more than 500 plant species. Although considerable research related to ecology of Rhizoctonia has been done, it still appears to be a potential pathogen causing severe losses in various crops. Further research is required to have a better identification and characterization of genetic variability among different isolates collected from different ecological zones. Better understanding of variation among populations of pathogen for avirulence genes for will definitely aid in designing improved management strategies to combat R. bataticola attack. This study will enable readers to have a more clear picture of the dry root rot pathogen, R. bataticola in respect of variability, distribution, pathogenicity and economic impact on different plant species. Various techniques have been developed for diagnosis of the pathogen at the initial stages. The development of molecular techniques for better identification and detection of the fungus will certainly help in minimizing the soaring crop losses to a considerable extent.