Fungal and bacterial foliar diseases of pea, lentil, faba bean and chickpea

Abstract

Fungal foliar diseases such as downy mildew, powdery mildew, and rust of pea; blights and rust of lentil; chocolate spot, Ascochyta blight, and rust of faba bean; and Ascochyta blight, Botrytis grey mould, and rust of chickpea are serious in several countries and can devastate crops over large areas in some years. With the exception of powdery mildew, these diseases are favoured by cool and wet weather. Breeding disease resistant cultivars and the use of suitable fungicides offer effective measures of control in most cases, although breeding for multiple disease resistance merits greater effort. Bacterial diseases of the four crops are only important locally. Nevertheless, new cultivars must be tested to ensure that they do not easily succumb to bacterial pathogens.