Molecular Variability in Phaeoisariopsis personata Causing Late Tikka Leaf Spot of Ground Nut in Cuddalore District of Tamil Nadu

An experiment was carried out at Department of plant pathology, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, India. To test the five isolates of Phaeoisariopsis personata from different regions of groundnut Vridhachalam-2 (VRI-2) variety that showed typical symptoms of late tikka leaf spot disease from Cuddalore district viz., Shivapuri (LT1), Srimushnam (LT2), Chaithiram (LT3), Parangipettai (LT4), and Kammapuram (LT5) were collected. Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was used to detect the variations among the isolates of P. personata. Pair wise genetic similarities between the different isolates of P. personata were estimated by DICE similarity coefficient. The Dendrogram results revealed that these five isolates showed 66 per cent to 80 per cent similarity coefficient. There is no congruence between the RAPD pattern and the virulence pattern of test isolates. The clustering in the RAPD dendrogram was not associated with the virulence.