AUTHOR=Zwart Rebecca S. , Thudi Mahendar , Channale Sonal , Manchikatla Praveen K. , Varshney Rajeev K. , Thompson John P. 

TITLE=Resistance to Plant-Parasitic Nematodes in Chickpea: Current Status and Future Perspectives

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2019.00966

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2019.00966

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Plant-parasitic nematodes constrain chickpea (<italic>Cicer arietinum</italic>) production, with annual yield losses estimated to be 14% of total global production. Nematode species causing significant economic damage in chickpea include root-knot nematodes (<italic>Meloidogyne artiella</italic>, <italic>M. incognita</italic>, and <italic>M. javanica</italic>), cyst nematode (<italic>Heterodera ciceri)</italic>, and root-lesion nematode (<italic>Pratylenchus thornei</italic>). Reduced functionality of roots from nematode infestation leads to water stress and nutrient deficiency, which in turn lead to poor plant growth and reduced yield. Integration of resistant crops with appropriate agronomic practices is recognized as the safest and most practical, economic and effective control strategy for plant-parasitic nematodes. However, breeding for resistance to plant-parasitic nematodes has numerous challenges that originate from the narrow genetic diversity of the <italic>C. arietinum</italic> cultigen. While levels of resistance to <italic>M. artiella, H. ciceri</italic>, and <italic>P. thornei</italic> have been identified in wild <italic>Cicer</italic> species that are superior to resistance levels in the <italic>C. arietinum</italic> cultigen, barriers to interspecific hybridization restrict the use of these crop wild relatives, as sources of nematode resistance. Wild <italic>Cicer</italic> species of the primary genepool, <italic>C. reticulatum</italic> and <italic>C. echinospermum</italic>, are the only species that have been used to introgress resistance genes into the <italic>C. arietinum</italic> cultigen. The availability of genomic resources, including genome sequence and re-sequence information, the chickpea reference set and mini-core collections, and new wild <italic>Cicer</italic> collections, provide unprecedented opportunities for chickpea improvement. This review surveys progress in the identification of novel genetic sources of nematode resistance in international germplasm collections and recommends genome-assisted breeding strategies to accelerate introgression of nematode resistance into elite chickpea cultivars.</p>