PLANT CELL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi.) Goid. is an omnipresent pathogen initiating a number of diseases in jute which are wide spread in nature. The pathogen is distributed in diverse climatic conditions from arid to tropical regions and has a broad host range. There are more than 500 hosts of the fungus including legume and cereal plants and this particular necrotic fungus causes seedling blight, damping off, collar rot, stem rot and root rot disease. M. phaseolina is a soil- and seedborne pathogenic fungus and produces cushion shaped black sclerotia. Its prevalence can be enhanced by different physiological and ecological factors such as low moisture contents, high temperature, and heat. Disease severity is correlated with viable sclerotia present in the soil. Charcoal rot infects plants at almost all growth stages. Dark lesions appear on the epicotyls and hypocotyls followed by seedling death due to obstruction of xylem vessels. In plants, the pathogen causes red to brown lesions on roots and stems with production of dark mycelia and black microsclerotia. Ultimately the plant becomes defoliated and wilted and perishes. Among the main management strategies, use of cultivars resistant to M. phaseolina has gained wide popularity and acceptance amongst farmers as application of fungicides is There are reports in other parts of the world that populations of M. phaseolina showed significant variations morphologically, physiologically, pathogenically, and genetically. These variations aid the pathogen to adapt and survive in diverse environments. Various types of therapeutic approaches have been taken against phytopathogenic fungus Macrophomina phaseolina which will help the production rate of jute.