A wilt-resistant line 'IPA 204' of long-duration pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan)

Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] is the second most important grain legume after chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in India. The main concern, however, is stability in production, which is highly affected by pigeonpea wilt, especially in north-east plains, central and peninsular India. The disease is caused by a soil-borne fungus Fusarium udum. The incidence of wilt alone causes 20–25% yield losses in the north-east plains (Dhar and Reddy 1999). However, loss in individual plants was found nearly 100% when wilt occurred at pre-podding stage, 67% at podding stage and 29.5% at pre-harvest stage (Kannaiyan and Nene 1981). This disease can occur at any stage of plant development, from young seedling to the pod-filling stage. The best way to deal with this disease is to grow cultivars with built-in resistance to the causal organism. None of the existing varieties and land races under cultivation in north-east plains appears to be resistant to wilt disease. This calls for development and release for resistant types to ensure stability of production in this zone. The present paper deals with a genotype ‘IPA204’ which has shown broad and stable resistance to the wilt pathogen besides having very good yield potential. ‘IPA 204’ was derived from a cross, ‘Bahar’בAc 314314’ following pedigree method of selection. It has compact plant type and indeterminate growth habit. Plants are tall (1.75–2.0 m) with green stem colour. Standard (outer petal) is golden-yellow without any streaks on either side. Pods are green with black stripes. Seeds are medium bold (12 g/ 100 seeds) and light-brown in colour. Based on its agronomic performance in station trial at IIPR, Kanpur, it was put to AICRP (pigeonpea) initial varietal trial (IVT) for assessment of its performance over the ruling check varieties of longduration pigeonpea, such as ‘Bahar’, ‘Narendra Arhar 1’. Keeping its good performance in IVT (5% superiority over the best check), it was decided to assess its wilt reaction in wilt-sick nursery of AICRP on pigeonpea located in almost all pigeonpea-growing regions of the country. The wilt