Screening of Chickpea germ plasms for selection of resistant genotypes to Ascochyta blight

Chickpea is the third most important food legume of the world after common bean and pea. Ascochyta blight, caused by the fungus Didymella rabiei is one of the most important limiting factors in chickpea production. The use of resistant cultivars is the most effective and economical strategy for management of Ascochyta blight. Two hundred chickpea genotypes were screened to identify resistant sources against D. rabiei in Lorestan province during 2013 and 2014 cropping seasons in field conditions. Plants were inoculated by applying uniformly scattered infected chickpea debris after seedling emergence. The disease severity was scored on a scale of one to nine. The highest recorded reaction was used to categorize resistance of the genotypes. Also the reaction of chickpea genotypes was evaluated under growth chamber conditions. The results showed that none of the genotypes was highly resistant and the frequency of resistant genotypes was low. On the basis of field and growth chamber evaluations, 11 genotypes were moderately resistant and can be employed as resistant sources in chickpea breeding programs to develope resistant cultivars to Ascochyta blight.