Screening of Kabuli chickpea germplasm for resistance to Fusarium wilt

A total of 1915 Kabuli chickpea lines were screened in a wilt sick plot containing Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceri race 0 at Beja, Tunisia. Complete resistance was found in 110 lines and this result was confirmed by a laboratory screening method. Principal components analysis showed that > 80% of the variation of the resistant lines was explained by hundred seed weight and days to maturity. Cluster analysis divided the resistant lines into four groups: 21 had high seed weight (48.25 +/- 3.81 g) and early maturity (95.09 +/- 2.50 d), 24 had high seed weight (46.84 +/- 2.10 g) and late maturity (117.00 d), 34 had low seed weight (22.35 +/- 4.72 g) and early maturity (92.97 +/- 3.97 d) and 31 had low seed weight (19.62 +/- 5.37 g) and late maturity (112.09 +/- 4.51 d).