Study on occurrence and importance of faba bean diseases with special consideration to the newly emerging faba bean gall in Tigray, Ethiopia

Abstract

Faba bean is one of the most important crops in Ethiopia. The production of the crop is, however, constrained by several disease infections including fungal diseases. A survey was conducted in 2013 to assess the occurrence and importance diseases affecting faba bean in south Tigray. The observed diseases were gall, chocolate spot, ascochyta blight, alternaria leaf spot, black root rot and rust in order of their prevalence. The overall mean incidences of 66, 45.5, 45.9, 28.9, 5.7, 1.1, and 0.4% and with severities of 64.4, 47.5, 15.3, 7.7, 11.8 and 0.2%, respectively. Faba bean gall was the most devastating newly identified disease in Tigray. The severity of the disease ranged from 30% in Emba-Alaje to 100% in Ofla, Enda-Mekoni and Raya-Alamata districts indicating the seriousness of the disease in the area. In addition, improved varieties were relatively tolerant to most identified diseases as compared to the local cultivars except for the new “gall” disease wipes-out fields without any tolerance. Hence, it is very important to use integrated management tactics and risk forecasting that operate on different aspects of the disease etiology. Key words: Disease, faba bean, gall.