Present status and future directions for management of root lesion nematode (Pratylenchus thornei) in chickpea

Chickpea is a popular legume crop in Asia and Africa's semi-arid regions. Crop production gains, on the other hand, have been modest, owing to biotic and abiotic stressors. Among the different biotic stresses, nematodes portray serious threat to chickpea production and colossal losses have been reported due to stress-free infection by other pathogens on infection with root lesion nematode (RLN). The worldwide distribution of two major species of RLN namely P. thornei and P. neglectus made them a focus research area especially on management aspect. In dryland farming areas of southeastern Australia, the P. thornei alone can cause yield losses of up to 40% in cereals and legumes. Despite the fact that chickpea breeders have been working persistently to generate superior chickpea varieties with increased resilience or tolerance to biotic and abiotic challenges, contemporary biotechnology technologies can help to speed up this process. To incorporate these tools and/or accelerate breeding programmes, identification of RLN resistant source with its genetic factor is first step in developing improved cultivars. However, study of resistance screening methods for chickpea against RLN is limited and standardization of different factors for development of a stable screening methodology distinguishing various levels of resistance is the need of the hour in RLN research.