Sources of resistance in chickpea (cicer arietinum l.) land races against ascochyta rabiei causal agent of ascochyta blight disease

Ascochyta blight disease, caused by the fungus Ascochyta rabiei, is a major yield limiting factor of chickpea in Turkey and around the world. This study was conducted to identify sources of genetic resistance against chickpea blight caused by Ascochyta rabiei. For this purpose, 68 chickpea land races of different origins were evaluated in both field and growth chamber conditions during 2008-2009 growing seassons. Two standard cultivars were used as a reference, Inci (resistant) and Canitez (susceptible). Disease severity scoring was conducted on a 1-9 rating scale 21 days after inoculation in growth chamber test and at flowering and pot filling stages in field tests. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) test showed a significant difference among the chickpea landraces in ascochyta blight resistance at p<0.05. None of the chickpea land races was highly resistant to the pathogen in growth chamber and field conditions. Only two landraces (10A and 28B) were moderately resistant to the disease. Some of the landraces resulted in a particular plant to exhibit no disease symptoms, indicating that the variation within chickpea land races was high. Therefore, seeds of this plant were harvested separately and preserved for further evaluations. (author)