Vol. 11, Issue 4 (2022)

Author(s):
GB Jejurkar, Dr. BG Barhate, Dr. KS Raghuvanshi and Dr. SB Sabale

Abstract:
Root rot caused by Rhizoctonia bataticola (Taub.) Butler (Synonym: Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid) is a fungus that is observed all over the world and is a serious pathogen in many crops. In the present study, Twenty isolates of root rot of soybean were collected from soybean growing tahsils of ten districts of Western Maharashtra during the kharif season of 2017-18. It was found that the root rot disease of soybean was predominant in all districts but their incidence was varied. The survey found that disease incidence was higher in rainfed crops than in irrigated crops. The dry conditions prevalent in rainfed areas may have favored the pathogen, which could be attributed to the higher level of disease incidence. Twenty isolates of R. bataticola were characterized for morphological characteristics. The isolates showed a varied pattern of hyphal width, sclerotial characters like shape and size, the average size of sclerotia ranged between 110.24 × 84.11 - 40.71 × 36.21 μm. Pathogenicity of the test pathogen isolates was proved successfully on soybean Cv. JS 335, by sick soil method in pot culture, under screen house conditions, based on which, all of the 20 isolates of R. bataticola were grouped into various categories which showed isolates as weakly to highly pathogenic to soybean.