relation: http://oar.icrisat.org/6144/ title: Resistance to blast (Magnaporthe grisea) in a mini-core collection of finger millet germplasm creator: Kiran Babu, T creator: Thakur, R P creator: Upadhyaya, H D creator: Reddy, P N creator: Sharma, R creator: Girish, A G creator: Sarma, N D R K subject: Millets subject: Genetics and Genomics description: Blast caused by Pyricularia grisea [teleomorph: Magnaporthe grisea] is an economically important and widespread disease of finger millet in the world. Host resistance is the most economical and effective means of combating this disease as finger millet is predominantly grown by resource-poor and marginal farmers. At the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), we evaluated a finger millet mini-core collection of 80 germplasm accessions (about 1 % of the total germplasm collection representing major trait variability) for blast resistance both in the field and greenhouse. Field evaluation was done using a refined screening technique that included new improved rating scales for leaf, neck and finger infection. Sixty six of the 80 accessions showed combined resistance to leaf, neck and finger blast in two seasons (2009 and 2010) of field screening. A highly significant and positive correlation was found between neck and finger blast ratings (r = 0.92), whereas small but significant correlations were found between leaf blast and neck blast (r = 0.25) and between leaf blast and finger blast (r = 0.30). These accessions were also screened for leaf blast resistance in the greenhouse by artificial inoculation of seedlings to confirm field observations. Fifty-eight of the 80 accessions were resistant to leaf blast in the greenhouse screen as well. These resistant accessions represented one wild (africana) and four cultivated races (vulgaris, plana, elongate and compacta) of finger millet that originated from 13 countries in Asia and Africa and exhibited considerable diversity for agronomic traits, such as maturity period, plant height and panicle type. These blast resistant accessions from the mini-core collection would be useful in finger millet disease resistance breeding programs. publisher: Kluwer date: 2013 type: Article type: PeerReviewed format: application/pdf language: en identifier: http://oar.icrisat.org/6144/2/Kiranbabu_etal_2012.pdf format: application/pdf language: en identifier: http://oar.icrisat.org/6144/9/EJPP_135_299%E2%80%93311_2013.pdf identifier: Kiran Babu, T and Thakur, R P and Upadhyaya, H D and Reddy, P N and Sharma, R and Girish, A G and Sarma, N D R K (2013) Resistance to blast (Magnaporthe grisea) in a mini-core collection of finger millet germplasm. European Journal of Plant Pathology, 135 (2). pp. 299-311. ISSN 1573-8469 relation: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10658-012-0086-2