Abstract
Ascochyta blight (AB) of pulse crops (chickpea, field pea, and lentils) causes yield loss in Montana, where 1.2 million acres was planted to pulses in 2016. Pyraclostrobin and azoxystrobin, quinone outside inhibitor (QoI) fungicides, have been the choice of farmers for the management of AB in pulses. However, a G143A mutation in the cytochrome b gene has been reported to confer resistance to QoI fungicides. A total of 990 isolates of AB-causing fungi were isolated and screened for QoI resistance. Out of these, 10% were isolated from chickpea, 81% were isolated from field peas, and 9% isolated from lentil. These were from a survey of grower’s fields and seed lots (chickpea = 17, field pea = 131, and lentil = 21) from 23 counties in Montana sent to the Regional Pulse Crop Diagnostic Laboratory, Bozeman, MT, United States for testing. Fungicide-resistant Didymella rabiei isolates were found in one chickpea seed lot each sent from Daniels, McCone and Valley Counties, MT, from seed produced in 2015 and 2016. Multiple alignment analysis of amino acid sequences showed a missense mutation that replaced the codon for amino acid 143 from GGT to GCT, introducing an amino acid change from glycine to alanine (G143A), which is reported to be associated with QoI resistance. Under greenhouse conditions, disease severity was significantly higher on pyraclostrobin-treated chickpea plants inoculated with QoI-resistant isolates of D. rabiei than sensitive isolates (p-value = 0.001). This indicates that where resistant isolates are located, fungicide failures may be observed in the field. D. rabiei-specific polymerase chain reaction primer sets and hydrolysis probes were developed to efficiently discriminate QoI- sensitive and - resistant isolates.
Highlights
The production of cool season pulse crops including chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), field pea (Pisium sativum L.), and lentil (Lens culinaris Medik) in the Northern Great Plains of the United States is rapidly increasing
Most isolates were obtained from chickpea, field pea and lentil seed lots submitted by growers in 23 Montana counties to the Regional Pulse Crop Diagnostic Laboratory (RPCDL) in Bozeman, MT for testing during the 2014, 2015, and 2016 growing seasons (Table 1)
Only 11 isolates of D. rabiei amplified with the MAMA-PCR and had a mycelial growth on fungicide amended media that was 70% of the control plate
Summary
The production of cool season pulse crops including chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), field pea (Pisium sativum L.), and lentil (Lens culinaris Medik) in the Northern Great Plains of the United States is rapidly increasing. An increase in pulse production is accompanied by potentially yield-limiting diseases. QoI-Fungicide Resistant Didymella rabiei in Montana blight (AB) This is a host-specific disease caused by fungal species including Didymella rabiei (Kovachevski) v. Arx (anamorph Ascochyta rabiei (Pass) Labr) on chickpea, a species complex consisting of Didymella pisi (Barilli et al, 2016), Peyronellaea pinodes, and Peyronellaea pinodella on field pea (Aveskam et al, 2010), and Didymella lentis Kaiser, Wang and Rogers (anamorph A. lentis Vassiljevsky) on lentil (Barilli et al, 2016). In addition to seed as a source of inoculum, D. rabiei, D. pisi, and P. pinodes can subsist in the sexual and/or asexual forms (pseudothecia, pycnidia, and perithecia, respectively), producing ascospores and conidia that can provide a source of inoculum for disease epidemics (Tivoli and Banniza, 2007; Chilvers et al, 2009; Wise et al, 2011)
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