Poster: Biology & Disease Mgmt: Integrated Pest Mgmt
400-P
Proactive Strategy for Management of Seedborne Pathogens of Pulse Crops in Montana
B. AGINDOTAN (1), M. BURROWS (1) (1) Montana State University, U.S.A.
Pulse crops (chickpea, lentil, and field pea) are grown for their health and nutritional benefits. In 2015, Montana led the U.S. in field pea and lentil production at 48% acreage. The pulse crop acreage projection by 2019 is 1.4 mil acres. Growers in Montana are aware of the fungal disease Ascochyta/Mycospharella blight and have been testing their seeds exclusively for this disease complex. Due to limited seed availability, seed is coming into the state from other long-term pulse producing areas with pathogens. To determine the prevalence of seedborne fungi in pulse crops from the 2015 growing season, seed samples of field pea (256), lentil (170), and chickpea (35) were tested by plating 400-600 seeds per sample on potato dextrose agar and incubating at 20⁰C (12h light: dark) for 10-14 d. Fungi were identified to genus level using microscopy and DNA sequencing. The most prevalent fungi isolated were Alternaria (71 - 83%), Cladosporium (53 - 67%), Ascochyta (18-56%), Penicillium (46 - 57%), Rhizopus (20-40%), and Nigospora (6-20%; 1st report). Others were Fusarium (14- 17%), Aureobasidium (7.4-11%; 1st report), Botrytis (8-14%), Stemphylium (9 - 16%), Collectotrichum (1-9%), and Diaporthe spp. (4-14%; 1st report). Growers can manage these fungal diseases if they know the health status of their seedlots, use seed treatment fungicides, and prevent planting seed lots infested with pathogens with long-lived survival structures on organic and conventionally managed acres.