Macrophomina phaseolina is a soil- and seed-borne fungal pathogen that affects pigeonpea, causing stem canker and significant yield losses. We evaluated different inoculation methods to prove the pathogenicity of M. phaseolina in pigeonpea under pot culture conditions using variety GT-104 at N. M. College of Agriculture, NAU, Navsari (Gujarat). The pathogen was mass-multiplied on sterile sorghum grains and inoculated using pin prick, tooth brush, and carborundum powder. Among the methods tested, the pin prick method showed the highest disease incidence (80%) with visible spindle-shaped lesions after 47 days of inoculation. The tooth brush method resulted in 50 per cent disease incidence after 52 days, while the carborundum powder method had the lowest incidence (33.33%) after 58 days of inoculation. The results confirmed that the pin prick and tooth brush methods were the most effective for establishing pathogenicity. This finding, proved these methods to be reliable for testing stem canker caused by M. phaseolina in pigeonpea

Macrophomina phaseolina, pigeonpea, pathogenicity, stem canker

The pathogenicity of M. phaseolina in pigeonpea in term percent disease incidence was proved that pin prick (80.00%) and tooth brush inoculation method (50%) were the quickest and most efficient methods for proving the pathogenicity of pigeonpea stem canker pathogen, M. phaseolina comparing to carborundum powder method (33.33%)

Kapadiya R.K., Rakholiya K.B. and Patel J.V. (2024). Pathogenicity of Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid. caused Stem Canker of Pigeonpea. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 16(9): 43-45.