Response of wild lentil to Ascochyta fabae f.sp. lentis from Syria

Ascochyta blight induced by Ascochyta fabae f.sp. lentis is a major foliar disease affecting lentil. Screening 248 accessions of the ICARDA wild lentil germplasm collection for resistance to a Syrian isolate of this fungus was conducted under artificial inoculation in a plastic house. The reaction of resistant accessions was confirmed in a second trial. Twenty-four out of 86 accessions of Lens culinaris ssp. orientalis were resistant, as were 12 of 35 accessions of L. culinaris ssp. odemensis, 3 of 35 accessions of L. nigricans ssp. nigricans, 36 of 89 accessions of L. nigricans ssp. ervoides, and all 3 accessions of Vicia montbretii. Sixty-four per cent of resistant sources were from Syria and southeastern Turkey. Disease reaction was uncorrelated both to the altitude of collection and its annual average rainfall. A significant correlation (r = 0.281) between leaflet width and disease reaction was due more to the frequency of the resistant reaction within the narrow-leaved L. nigricans ssp. ervoides than as a function of small leaf area. Disease reaction was uncorrelated with a range of other morphological traits.