Mining of resistance source for root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) in bitter gourd

Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) is nutritionally and medicinally rich cucurbit crop and widely cultivated during summer and kharif season in India but suffer a lot with several biotic and abiotic stresses. Among biotic stresses, root-knot nematodes are one of the most damaging pests which cause 13.5% yield loss amounting to 252.82 million rupees annually. Use of resistant sources and development of new cultivars, is an eco-friendly approach to combat nematode incidence in this crop. In this endeavour, morphologically distinct twenty genotypes of M. charantia was screened against root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) by challenged inoculation of 2000 J2/kg of soil under screen house condition. The results revealed that, among twenty genotypes, two genotypes IC-44438 and IC-44428 were found resistant, three genotypes IC-212504, VRBTG-10 and VRBTG11-1 were moderately resistance and remaining were noted to be susceptible to M. incognita. The promising bitter gourd genotypes were again reconfirmed for their resistance against M. incognita by comparing with a susceptible check ‘Kalyanpur Baramasi’. Hence, the identified resistant genotypes i.e. IC-44438 and IC-44428 from the present study can serve as useful genetic material to plant breeders for developing root-knot nematode resistant bitter gourd varieties or hybrids to combat root knot nematode incidence in prone areas.