Chickpea growers need to stay vigilant for fungal diseases, especially as crop canopies close and wet weather and heavy dews occur. Recent reports from central Queensland have highlighted cases of white mould caused by Sclerotinia spp. Meanwhile, wet conditions in southern Queensland have led to instances of phytophthora root rot in susceptible paddocks.
Phytophthora root rot causes yellowing in chickpea
Across all regions, growers should also monitor their crops for signs of ascochyta blight and botrytis grey mould. Fresh isolates of the fungal ascochyta blight pathogen, Ascochyta rabiei, are sought after to monitor changes in isolate aggressiveness – contact Lisa Kelly (details below) for more information.
Ascochyta blight causes spots on chickpea leaves, stems and pods
Further information on these diseases:
- Sclerotinia in chickpea (Agriculture Victoria)
- Sclerotinia-impacts-on-chickpea (GRDC)
- Ascochyta online dashboard (AscoDashboard) of submitted samples
- Phytophthora root rot management in chickpea (NSW DPIRD pdf)
If you see disease symptoms in grain crops, please contact plant pathologist Lisa Kelly ([email protected], 0477 747 040) for further information on disease diagnosis and sample collection.
This research has been supported by GRDC project DAQ2407-001RTX.