Intensive screening of black pepper germplasm through artificial inoculation was done at ICAR-Indian Institute of Spices Research, Kozhikode, (Kerala, India) to locate sources of resistance against Phytophthora foot rot incited by Phytophthora capsici Leon. adopting conventional stem and leaf inoculation procedure. The intact stem and leaf of 3-4 leaf stage rooted plants were inoculated and incubated for 72h at a temperature of 25 –28° C with a relative humidity of 80 – 90% for development of symptoms. The degree of resistance was rated based on the mean disease severity index (DSI) of leaf, stem and depth of penetration. Based on the mean DSI, the accessions were scored. Among the 20 accessions evaluated, none of them showed complete resistance to P. capsici infection. However, the accession 7259 showed moderate resistance with an overall mean DSI of . Accession 7254 was found to be highly susceptible with a DSI of followed by variety Panniyur5 (check) with mean DSI of . | Exploitation of resistant sources to Phytophthora Capsici Leon. from genetic stocks of black pepper (Piper nigrum L.)
