Vol. 10, Special Issue 12 (2021)

Author(s):
Pranaya Pradhan, Dhirendra Kumar Nayak and Manaswini Mahapatra

Abstract:
Among pulses, chick pea (Cicer arietinum) is preferred to food legumes because of its multiple uses for growing population across the world. During 2017-18, globally it was grown on 149.66 lakh ha area, with the total production of 162.25 lakh tonnes (FAOSTAT, 2019) and average productivity of 1252 kg/ha. Out of which, 71 per cent of global area with 70 per cent of global production of chick pea is contributed by India as it ranks 1^st in area and production but lags behind several countries in terms of productivity. The cause of low productivity of chick pea is attributed to numerous biotic stresses impeding the cultivars to reach their true potential. Among them root knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) is one of the major pathogens infecting chick pea. Since the ban of fumigant methyl bromide in 2005, there is an increasing search for new molecules and efficient modes of action in the control of nematodes. Hence a biochemical reaction change in host plant with respect to Copper uptake in a combination of Pseudomonas fluorescens is-bio agents was conducted to induce resistance in three chickpea cultivars RSG 974, GG 5, GNG 2144. Copper content of chickpea variety GNG 2144 was found highest in treatment, where only bacteria (P. fluorescens) was inoculated i.e. 9.45 mg/100g of root followed by GG 5 i.e. 7.77 mg/100g of root and RSG 974 was i.e. 7.01 mg/100g of root respectively. Application of Pseudomonas fluorescence combinely enhanced the amount of Cu in roots of all chickpea varieties compared to other treatments.