Comparative pathogenesis of Fusarium spp. obtained from diseased chickpea plants in Morocco

The pathogenicity of two isolates (FS1 and FS2) of the Fusarium solani isolated from diseased chickpea plants harvested from two different regions from Morocco, which were identified morphologically and molecular, was evaluated as the severity, incidence and index of the disease. The results show that the two isolates tested were able to induce symptoms in both parts of the plant (root and aerial), of the seven chickpea varieties (‘Garbanzo’, ‘Farihane’, ‘Moubarak’, ‘Douyet’, ‘Rizki’, ‘Arifi’ and ‘Zahour’), which were associated with a reduction in all measured agronomic parameters. However, the intensity of the symptoms depends on the combination of the variety and the isolate of Fusarium. It appears that the FS2 isolate affected the ‘Moubarak’ variety much more, while the pathogenicity of the FS2 isolate was more pronounced on the ‘Rizki’ variety. The increase in the leaf damage index as a function of time is due to the evolution of leaf yellowing through several physiological stages (necrosis, stunting, wilting, leaf fall), before causing plant death. At the end of the experiment, the re-isolation of the two Fusarium isolates from the four vegetative parts of all inoculated varieties was positive.