Relationship between Mycoflora and Soil Functionality in Pigeon Pea (Cajanus cajan L.) in some Districts of Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

India is the largest producer of pulses in the world, with 25% share in the global production. The leading pulse producing states are Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The important pulse crops are chickpea (48%), pigeon pea (15%), mung bean (7%), urdbean (7%) and lentil (5%). In the present communication, a survey was conducted from 2015 to 2016 of pigeon pea fields in eighteen locations at Agra, Prayagraj, Aligarh, Basti and Hardoi, districts. The pathogens isolated from pigeon pea plants were Fusarium udum., Sclerotinia rolfsii and Rhizoctonia solani mainly. Physically the textures of soil samples were found clay to sandy at several places among them sandy soil was dominating. Moisture content varied from 6.58 to 11.25%. During the course of study it became evident that pigeon pea (leguminous) plants were found to be wilting. It is also evident that the percent occurrence of wilted pigeon pea plants in different villages of the five districts was in the range of 6.03%-16.01%, whereas, the average wilting occurrence among the district varied from 9.03%-14.5%. Basti district showed maximum percentage of wilt occurrence (14.5%) while Agra, Prayagraj, Aligarh, and Hardoi showed 9.05%, 12.5%, 9.3% and 9.35%, respectively. It was also found that pH of the soil also affected diseases development. As in the fields having pH range of 6.5-8.0, the plants were found to be infected with wilt disease. However, at pH 5.0-6.5 the diseases could not be detected. In Basti, Prayagraj and Aligarh, due to alkaline pH (7.45-7.68) wilting disease on pigeon pea plants occurred frequently. Sandy loam favoured pigeon pea wilt. Sandy loams provide sufficient aeration in the rhizosphere of pigeon pea, which may be required for population build up of inoculum concentration of Fusarium leading to high incidence of wilt.