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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Pullman, Washington » Grain Legume Genetics Physiology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #348167
Title: Advances in Ascochyta research

Author
item RUBIALES, DIEGO - Institute For Sustainable Agriculture
item FONDEVILLA, SARA - Institute For Sustainable Agriculture
item Chen, Weidong
item DAVIDSON, JENNIFER - South Australian Research And Development Institute

Submitted to: Frontiers in Plant Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/5/2018
Publication Date: 2/2/2018
Citation: Rubiales, D., Fondevilla, S., Chen, W., Davidson, J. 2018. Advances in Ascochyta research. Frontiers in Plant Science. 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2018.00022.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2018.00022

Interpretive Summary: Production of cool season legumes faces a number of foliar diseases. One group of the most important and most devastating foliar diseases are Ascochyta blights. Ascochyta blights are caused by fungal pathogens related to Ascochyta spp. that often show host specificity. Generally each fungal species causes disease on a specific legume species, except in the case of pea, in which up to four fungal species are known to cause disease. Management of Ascochyta blights is mainly through integrated approaches using resistance, fungicide application, and cultural practices. This editorial summarizes a collection of 15 research articles published in the Research Topic “Advances in Ascochyta Research” in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science. These 15 articles present the current state of knowledge in epidemiology, host resistance, fungicide management, and resistance mechanisms of legume plants to Ascochyta pathogens. This collection of articles will facilitate future research on Ascochyta blight and designing strategies for managing Ascochyta blights.

Technical Abstract: Ascochyta blights are important diseases of legume crops, particularly cool season legumes. Management of Ascochyta blight is through integrated approaches using resistance, fungicide application, and cultural practices. This editorial summarizes fifteen research articles published in this Research Topic “Advances in Ascochyta Research” in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science. Research areas covered in this Research Topic ranged from epidemiology (seed transmission of Ascochyta blight in lentil), molecular approaches in breeding for resistance to Ascochyta blight, mapping of resistance genes using single nucleotide polymorphisms, genetic diversity of the pathogen, pathogen population dynamics in relation to performance of resistant lentil cultivars, resistance response of lentil at cellular and molecular levels to infection by Ascochyta lentis, environmental (temperature) effect on predisposing chickpeas to Ascochyta infection, and different approaches in studying resistance mechanisms to Ascochyta blight. This Research Topic presents the current status of research on Ascochyta blights of cool season legumes.