Evaluation of Pathological Variations in Alternaria Species Infecting Oilseed Brassicas in Diverse Regions of India for Induction of Systemic Resistance

The 32 isolates of A. brassicae, 20 isolates of A. brassicicola and 3 isolates of A. alternata originating from diverse regions of North-West India, where Alternaria blight is highly prevalent, were investigated for their pathogenicity on various host species. The disease reaction varied with necrotic lesions of 0.4- 7.5 mm, mostly having brown to black coloured lesions. The isolates caused moderate to severe chlorosis on B. rapa varieties (YSH-401 and Pusa gold) as compared to the B. juncea varieties (Varuna, Rohini, Kranti and PHR-01). The mean disease index varied from 2.22 ± 1.17 to 7.32 ± 0.67 in A. brassicae isolates, 2.38 ± 0.92 to 5.89 ± 0.89 in A. brassicicola isolates and 2.49 ± 0.97 to 5.87 ± 0.91 in A. alternata isolates. Out of seven A. brassicae isolates that tested positive for non-aggressiveness on specific host species, five isolates, on prior inoculation, induced tolerance to highly aggressive strains of A. brassicae in the respective B. juncea and B. rapa varieties. The study thus opens up the possibility of deploying attenuated virulence as naturally occurring biological control for induction of systemic resistance/ tolerance in Brassicas against A. brassicae, one of the most destructive fungal pathogen.