Volume : 5, Issue : 8, August - 2016

Reaction of Safflower advanced breeding lines to leaf spots caused by Alternaria carthami

B. N. Harish Babu, B. N. Geetha Kumari

Abstract :

<p>&nbsp;Safflower is an important rabi oilseed crop which has immense medicinal value for various ailments. Leaf spots caused by Alternaria cartahmi is one of the major biotic stresses causing considerable yield loss. Fifteen advanced eeding lines along with checks were screened for tolerance to leaf spots caused by Alternaria carthami under natural conditions of high disease pressure during rabi 2009 at Agricultural Research Station, Annigeri, Dharwad (Karnataka), an important hotspot for this disease. Significant differences were observed among the genotypes for per cent disease index (PDI) and seed yield. High yielding advanced eeding lines ASA-07, AS-96-1-2 and AS-19 showed highly susceptible reaction to leaf spots with PDI &gt; 90 per cent. A non-spiny eeding line A-98-04 and two spiny genotypes (AS-99-1-2-5 and AS-B-02-03) showed susceptible to moderately susceptible reaction as that of NARI-6 but were poor yielders. This study further substantiates the lack of high and stable sources of resistance to alternaria leaf spots among the cultivated genotypes of safflower.</p>