DETECTION OF QTLs FOR BLIGHT RESISTANCE IN CHICKPEA GENOTYPES WITH DNA BASED MARKERS

Chickpea blight caused by Ascochyta rabiei is one of the major diseases in Pakistan and other chickpea growing regions of the world. Different QTLs for resistance against the fungus have been identified in both inter and intraspecific crosses and are located on Linkage Group (LG) 2, 4a, 4b and 6. The objective of the present study was to screen local genotypes for the QTLs involved in resistance against blight. For this screening SSR, SCAR, ISSR and RAPD techniques have been tried to detect the reported QTLs in 21 mutants/local genotypes. The screening for Ascochyta blight of these genotypes has been carried out in the Ascochyta blight screening nursery for three years at NIAB. The results revealed that QTL linked with STMS, RAPD and ISSR markers on LG2, 4a and 6 are not involved in conferring resistance in local genotypes. Another important QTL on LG 4b is saturated with RAPD, SCAR and STMS markers and our studies of local genotypes showed strong linkage of STMS and SCAR markers with blight resistance on this linkage group.