Abstract:
Ascochyta blight is an economically important disease of chickpea caused by the fungus Ascochyta
rabiei. The fungus shows considerable variation for pathogenicity in nature. Fifteen chickpea germplasm
accessions provided by ICARDA (Aleppo, Syria), their origin from different countries (Table 1), were screened
for resistance to Ascochyta blight disease caused by Ascochyta rabiei, by artificially inoculating the germplasm
under glasshouse at temperature ranged from 20±2°C and humidity was maintained above 80% by sprinkling
fresh water. Highly significant effect (P<0.01) was observed on chickpea germplasm reaction to three
pathotypes of Ascochyta rabiei (Mos02 ‘pathotype III: highly aggressive’, At02 ‘pathotype II: moderate
aggressive’ and Sba02 ‘pathotype I: least aggressive’). We found 5 chickpea germplasm exhibited highly
resistant response (ILC72, ILC182, ILC187, ILC200 and ILC202), 2 are susceptible (ILC1929 and Flip1025) and
other 8 chickpea germplasm (ILC484, ILC2506, ILC3856, ILC4421, ILC5902, ILC5921, ILC6043 and ILC6090),
displayed tolerant reaction.
