Ascochyta blight

General Information : caused by Ascochyta Rabiei. Seed borne disease. Left over debris in the fields serve as a source. Wet and warm weather, and dense crop canopy are conducive to the spread of the disease.    Symptoms : The emerging seedlings develop dark brown lesions at the base of the stem. Affected seedlings die. Seen around flowering and podding as patches of blighted plants in the field. Under unfavorable conditions, the infection remains lesions on all parts of the plants. Fully developed lesions on pods are usually round with concentric rings. Brown discoloration and deep, round or irregular cankers develop on the seeds. Symptoms of blight on stems, leaves and pods Lesions on infested chickpea seeds (right) as compared to the uninfested seeds (left)

Control : Sowing late. Deep sowing (15 cm or deeper). Sowing disease-free seed. Remove and destroy dead plant debris. Intercropping with wheat, barley, mustard. Growing resistant cultivars. Seed treatment with thiram 2g kg-1 or benomyl 2g kg-1 or immersion in formalin for 4 hours. Foliar application of bordeaux mixture or wettable sulphur or zineb.

* Resistant cultivars to Ascochyta blight Cultivars F8, C 12/34, C 235, G 543, H 75-35, GG 688, GNG 146, Gaurav, BG 261, GG 588 Seed type Desi