Aloe (Aloe barbadensis), an important medicinal plant grown in the state of Tamil Nadu, India has suffered heavy losses due to a leaf disease in 2006. The symptoms observed were small, circular to oval dark brown necrotic sunken spots located mostly on the leaf tip, with average diameter of 1.0 mm and reaching 3.0 mm. The pathogen was isolated and identified as Alternaria alternata and the pathogenicity was established. The conidiophores were branched, straight, golden brown in colour, measuring 15 mm long and 2-6 mm thick. The conidia were golden brown in colour, produced in long branched chains, obclavate in shape, with short conical flask. The literature indicates that this is the first report of a leaf spot disease of aloe in India.
The correlation, path analysis and stress indices for yield and its component traits were studied in Saltol introgressed backcross inbred lines (BILs) developed in the background of ADT 37 and CR 1009 Sub 1 under normal and saline conditions. The score of seedling stage salinity tolerance indicated that the line BIL 1102 was tolerant to salinity. Correlation studies indicated positive association of number of total grains per panicle and number of filled grains per panicle with grain yield in both saline and normal conditions. The direct positive effects of traits like number of productive tillers and panicle length would be effective for selection on grain yield improvement under both environments.The characters viz., days to fifty percent flowering, number of filled grains per panicle and thousand grain weightalso had direct effects on grain yield under salinity condition. The lines viz., BIL 1102, BIL 752 and BIL 1094 were selected as saline tolerant lines based on stress susceptibility index (SSI) and stress tolerance index (STI).
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