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greatest at flowering and fruiting stage; and suggested that for testng the
resistance of genotypes to blight, inoculations should be made at flowering and
fruiting stage, as otherwise the susceptible varieties may show a deceptive appearance
of resistance.
Since the beginning of the present century including the prepartition period,
there have been only a few reports of severe blight disease (Table 3).
Table 3
Reports on occurrence of severe blight disease in India (including the prepartition period).
Inve.!igator Year of Area
occurrence
Butler (1918) 1911 North-western Frontier Province
(now in Pakistan)
Singh (1927) 1924-25 Attock district of Punjab
1925-26 now in Pakistan)
Mitra (1936) 1933-34 IAR, Pasa (Bihar)
Dep. Agr. Punjab (1938) 1936-37 Attock district of Punjab
(now in Pakistan)
Dep. ASr. United Provinces (1949) 1947-48 Central Station of Agricultural
Institute, U.P.
Bedi and Athwal (1962) 1950-51 Whole of the Punjab
Bedi (1961) 1958-59 Whole of the Punjab
Sandhu (1972) 1965-66 Whole of the Punjab
1967-68
Personal observation 1980-81 Whole of the Punjab
Disease-Resistant Sources
Singh (1927) reported field resistance in Punjab No./, Bhakkar, Isakhal and
Mianwali cultivars, while heavy damage by blight was caused to late types
Rajanpur, Alipur, Punjab No.23 and Khanewal during 1924-25 and 1925-26.
Mitra (1936) reported that during the severe infection of chickpea blight at Pusa,
Bihar during 1933-34, attack on types 48, 49, and 67 was moderate, type 68 was
severely affected; on 18 lines the attack was slight, and on 34 only a trace of
blight was present.
Luthra et al. (1941) studied 392 types, 187 collections received from the
Bureau of Plant Industry, USDA, Washington, D.C., and 205 samples supplied
by the Millet Botanist, Sirsa, India, for resistance to blight. None of the local
entries possessed resistance to blight, however, three foreign types were highly
resistant to the disease and their description is as under: