Response of some chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes to Orobanche foetida Poir. parasitism

Abstract

In Tunisia, broomrape (Orobanche foetida Poir.) causes major drawbacks especially in faba bean (Vicia faba L.) Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) suffers little damage compared to faba bean, but with the winter sowing chickpea cultivars, broomrape might become a serious problem for chickpea cultivation. The development of resistant cultivars remains the most efficient way to solve this problem. The behavior of six chickpea genotypes to O. foetida was studied under field natural infestation and artificial inoculation in pots and petri dishes in greenhouse conditions. During the cropping seasons 2010-2011 and 2012-2013 the level of infection was very low. The number of emerged parasites per host plant varied from 0.18 to 0.43 and the incidence from 6.5% to 23%. Among the six tested genotypes, G1, G2, and G4 showed partial resistance to O. foetida with low number and dry weight of emerged parasite and high grain yield compared to the other genotypes, although no significant differences were recorded. In pot experiments, the number and total dry weight of broomrape per plant were lower for G1 and G2 genotypes than the other genotypes. Parasitism does not affect significantly the shoot dry weight and number of pods of these genotypes. The total chlorophyll content was significantly reduced under infestation in all genotypes. In Petri dishes experiments, results showed that percent germination of O. foetida seeds varied from 49% to 65% and does not play a role in the resistance of chickpea genotypes. In contrast, broomrape attachment was lower and slower for the genotypes G1, G2, and G4 than the other genotypes. Resistance in chickpea genotypes was characterized by few parasite attachments on roots and a limited growth of established tubercles. No necrosis of attached tubercles was observed in the different experiments.

Study of some resistance mechanisms toOrobanchespp. infestation in faba bean (Vicia fabaL.) breeding lines in Tunisia

“…This was observed for other pathosystems as chickpea/O. foetida and tomato/Phelipanche ramosa (Mauromicale et al, 2008;nefzi et al, 2016). These parasites caused significant reduction in their hosts' development and in the chlorophyll content of their leaves resulting in an altered photosynthetic capacity in the host plant.…”

“…Badï was associated to higher parasite growth rate. This late tubercle growth was observed in many other pathosystems: sunflower -O. cumana; pea -O. crenata; faba bean -O. crenata; chickpea -O. foetida, and faba bean -O. foetida (Abbes et al, 2010;Labrousse et al, 2001;nefzi et al, 2016;Pérez-de-Luque & Rubiales et al, 2005;Pérez-de-Luque et al, 2007). The delay in the attachments of Orobanche tubercles and the slow in their growth once fixed on host roots can be explained by various resistance mechanisms.…”

“…Limited to moderate levels of resistance have been reported recently in several other legume such as pea, lentils, Lathyrus sativa, and Lathyrus cicera (Fernández-Aparicio et al, 2009aFernández-Aparicio, Sillero et al, 2009;Rubiales et al, 2009). conversely resistance is prevalent for chickpea and common vetch (Fernández-Martínez et al, 2008;nefzi et al, 2016;Rubiales, Pérez-De-Luque, Joel et al, 2003). More efforts are still required for the study of resistance inheritance, parasite variability and pathogenicity and resistance mechanism.…”

Recent research progress in combatting root parasitic weeds

“…The resistance of several chickpea genotypes to O. foetida has been investigated and three genotypes, FLIP 98-22C, Nayer and Beja 1, show partial resistance. Their resistance was ascribed to incompatibility [89]. Among 30 radiation-mutagenized chickpea mutants, five shared a strong O. foetida resistance based on a low induction of germination and incompatibility.…”

Chlorophyll content and chlorophyll fluorescence as physiological parameters for monitoringOrobanche foetidaPoir. infestation on faba bean (Vicia fabaL.)

“…In Tunisia, Orobanche foetida, O. crenata, O. cumana, and Phelipanche ramosa were found parasitizing many crops such as faba bean, chickpea, lentil, grass pea, sunflower, [4,5]. While O. crenata was mentioned as a serious pest for decades, O. foetida has been presented as an emerging problem for many legume crops such as faba bean, chickpea, lentil, grass pea, medick, common and narbon vetch [4,6,7]. The Orobanche infested area in Tunisia is estimated now to more than 80,000 ha mostly situated in the main grain legumes production area (data non-published).…”