**Fusarium Wilt: A Killer Disease of Lentil**

**Fusarium Wilt: A Killer Disease of Lentil**

Neha Tiwari, Seid Ahmed and Ashutosh Sarker Neha Tiwari, Seid Ahmed and Ashutosh Sarker Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.72508

#### **Abstract**

Lentil (*Lens culinaris* Medikus subsp. *culinaris*) is an important dietary source of protein and other essential nutrients in South and West Asia, North and East Africa. Lentil crops are vulnerable to a number of diseases caused by fungi, viruses, nematodes, insect pests, parasitic plants and abiotic stresses. Among them, the most significant and serious soil-borne disease is Fusarium wilt (*Fusarium oxysporum* f.sp. *lentis*: *Fol*). Fusarium wilt causes yield loss up to 50% in farmers' fields. The pathogen showed high levels of phenotypic and genotypic diversity in India, Algeria, Syria and Iran. The disease thrives at 22–25°C temperature and affect lentil either at seedling and vegetative or the reproductive stages of the crop. To minimize yield losses, an integrated management strategy comprising resistant/partial resistant cultivars, adjusting sowing time, bio-control and chemical seed treatments is the best approach to reduce the incidence of the Fusarium wilt of lentil. This review covers past achievements in managing the disease, pathogen diversity and identify gaps in managing Fusarium wilt to improve productivity and production of the crop.

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.72508

**Keywords:** lentil, *Fusarium oxysporum* f.sp*. lentis*, Fusarium wilt, disease management

#### **1. Introduction**

Lentil (*Lens culinaris* Medikus subsp. *culinaris*) is a cool season, diploid (2n = 2X = 14) selfpollinating grain legume with genome size of approximately 4 Gbp [1]. It is an ancient crop originated in the Near East and after that rapidly spread all through the Mediterranean Basin, Central Asia and later to the New World including Latin America. It is one of the oldest grain legumes domesticated about 10,000 years ago [2–4]. Production and consumption of lentil involve more than 100 countries. The total world lentil production is about 4.8 million tons from an estimated area of 4.5 million ha with an average yield of 0.11 t/ha [5]. The cultivated *L*. *culinaris* sub spp. *culinaris* includes two physio-morphological cultivated lentil types: small

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© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons

seeded (microsperma) and large seeded (macrosperma) [6]. Lentil is recognized as one of the most nutritious pulse crops ranking next to chickpea among cool-season food legumes. It contains 57–60% carbohydrate, 24–26% protein, 3.2% and 1.3% fiber. It is also a rich source of minerals containing calcium (69 mg per 100 g), phosphorus (300 mg per 100 g) and Iron (7 mg per 100 g) of seed [7, 8]. Lentil seed contains lysine, an essential amino acid, found only at low levels in cereal protein. Lentil is a valuable human food, mostly consumed as dry seeds as well as used as fodder, and generally grown as a crop rotation after cereals to enrich the soil by their nitrogen fixing ability [9]. In South East Asia, lentil mostly grows on residual soil moisture after post rainy season under rainfed conditions. The inclusion of lentil as a crop rotation can benefits the succeeding crops by improving the soil health through biological nitrogen fixation and carbon sequestration. The amount of nitrogen fixed by plants varies from 0 to 192 kg total N/ha around a mean of 80 kg total N/ha [10]. This estimate of N fixation is similar to the quantities fixed by chickpea and dry bean.

Since 1970s there have been significant achievements in national and international lentil programs in developing phenologically adapted, stress resistant and high-yielding cultivars [11]. During the past three decades, different national agricultural systems released more than 90 improved cultivars from germplasm developed by the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) [11]. Therefore, the current review covers past achievements in managing the disease, pathogen diversity and identify gaps in managing Fusarium wilt to improve productivity and production of the crop.
