Molecular studies of ascochyta blight disease in chickpea

Ascochyta blight disease is the major fungal disease limiting chickpea production in WA. It was first detected in commercial crops in WA during 1999. The ascochyta blight fungus (Ascochyta rabiei) is extremely aggressive, is particularly severe during cool, wet weather, and can be devastating to most chickpea crops. Scientists from ICARDA, ICRISAT and national programs in Turkey, Syria, India, Pakistan and the USA have been breeding for disease resistance for 15-20 years. However, despite frequent introductions of resistant genotypes, ascochyta blight continues to occur worldwide in chronic epidemic cycles. The absence of durable resistance has been attributed to the appearance of new pathotypes and high levels of polymorphism for aggressiveness in pathogen populations.