Variability and Pathogenicity in Bangladeshi Isolates of Botrytis cinerea Causing Botrytis Gray Mold in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Ten isolates of Botrytis cinerea causing botrytis gray mold in chickpea were collected from different agro climatic regions of Bangladesh to study the variability among them. The isolates were characterized in terms of cultural, morphological and pathogenic. The isolates varied significantly in cultural and morphological traits- colony color, shape, margin and texture; production and arrangement of sclerotia on PDA medium. The length of conidia varied from 5.00 to 15.00 μm. Mean length of conidia was found maximum (12.00 μm) in isolate AHI-9 and minimum (7.50 μm) in isolate AHI-1. The breadth of conidia ranged from 5.00 to 10.00 μm. The highest mean breadth (8.25 μm) was observed in isolate AHI-9 and the lowest (6.00 μm) in isolate AHI-4. The isolates exhibited reaction ranged from highly susceptible to resistant to a set of 9 chickpea cultivars and among them AHI-9 and AHI-10 were found the most virulent isolates.