Characterisation of populations of Sclerospora graminicola

SUMMARY Nine cultivars of pearl millet were inoculated with 12 collections of Sclerospora graminicola from various locations in Africa and India in a series of experiments which constituted an almost balanced incomplete block design spanning an entire growing season. The character of each pathogen population was defined in terms of incidence of disease on the hosts. Generally the pathogen collections from the sub‐Sahel regions of West Africa were more pathogenic than those from Senegal, Zambia or India. All but one host cultivar possessed relative resistance which decreased as the overall pathogenicity of the collections increased. There was one notable exception which exhibited stable resistance to all the pathogen collections tested and may have potential for future resistance breeding programmes.