EFFECT OF FUSARIUM WILT DISEASE ON SEED YIELD OF ADVANCE LENTIL GENOTYPES

Wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum is considered as the most damaging soil disease of lentil. Current study was carried out to see the effect of Fusarium wilt disease on seed yield of advance lentil genotypes in wilt sick plot. Fourteen entries were tested in national yield uniform trial (NUYT), 11 in adaptation yield trial (AYT), 15 in advance line yield trial-I (ALYT-I), 12 in advance line yield trial-II (ALYT-II) and 25 in preliminary yield trial (PYT) along with standard check. Mean seed yields of 891.04, 1281.78, 1153.81, 1080.04 and 789.45 kg ha^-1 were observed in NUYT, AYT, ALYT-I, ALYT-II and PYT, respectively. The average disease intensity in various trials was more than 30%. Disease severity was less than 10% in nine genotypes. This was also confirmed by high negative values of their losses over check. Out of these, the genotypes, 03501, NL 96625, NL 66184, NL 66106 and NL 31742/03 produced highest seed yield of 2945 kg ha^-1, 2667 kg ha^-1, 2490 kg ha^-1, 2390 kg ha^-1 and 2691 kg ha^-1 respectively. The higher yield may be attributed to inbuilt resistance against such a drastic disease. Overall, seed yield and disease incidence were negatively correlated in all yield trials. The genotypes under severe wilt attack produced no seed yield. It is clear from this study that resistance/tolerance is available in lentil that can be selected based on high yield potential along with minimum yield losses for further breeding.