Fungicide application timing for management of Ascochyta blight in chickpea

Non-Peer ReviewedAscochyta blight of chickpea [Ascochyta rabiei] is an extremely destructive disease capable of causing high yield and quality losses. The disease is widespread in chickpea growing areas of the prairies, and the pathogen can survive in crop debris for several years. Although partially resistant cultivars are available, the disease can still be devastating if weather conditions are favourable, making fungicides an important disease management tool. Trials investigating the effectiveness of different fungicide application timings and sequences were conducted on the desi cv. Myles and the kabuli cv. CDC Yuma at Saskatoon in 2003. The products used included Bravo 500, Headline, and Lance. The first application was made prior to flowering, when disease pressure was still extremely low. Additional applications were made at early flower, mid-flower, late flower or podding, with a maximum of three applications per treatment. In both cultivars, treatments without a pre-flower application of fungicide had higher disease severity and lower yields than treatments with a pre-flower application. Treatments without a pre-flower application that were sprayed three times were still inferior to treatments with a pre-flower application that were only sprayed twice. These results emphasize the need for early and frequent scouting for disease symptoms in chickpea to allow for early fungicide application if it is appropriate