Lack of effective resistance to the virulent race of Colletotrichum lentis in Lens culinaris Medikus subsp. culinaris

Abstract

AbstractAnthracnose caused by Colletotrichum lentis is an important fungal disease of lentil in western Canada. Two known pathogenic C. lentis races, race 0 and race 1 have been identified and current cultivars of lentil have little or no resistance to the virulent race 0. Seven Lens culinaris subsp. culinaris landrace accessions were previously reported to have resistance to C. lentis race 0. In this study, accession VIR-2633, with reported resistance to both races of C. lentis, and seven accessions were assessed for race 0 resistance relative to LR-59-81, an interspecific line derived from a L. culinaris subsp. culinaris × Lens ervoides cross. The results showed a lack of effective resistance to race 0 among the tested L. culinaris accessions when compared to that of LR-59-81. A few sublines displayed modest improvements in resistance compared to the susceptible check ‘Eston’, but were significantly more susceptible than LR-59-81. Moreover, screening of the sublines of accession VIR-2633 identified 12 sublines with resistance to race 1, but all VIR-2633 sublines were susceptible to race 0. The study underlined the importance of wild lentil germplasm for broadening the genetic base of cultivated lentil and their usefulness in disease screening experiments as positive checks.