Anthracnose and white mold were the primary foliar diseases observed in lentils this growing season. Anthracnose onset was in mid-July when the fields scouted were at the early pod growth stage. Incidence of diseased plants reached up to 18% in some fields (Figure 1). White mold was present in 60% of fields scouted from mid-July to early August with incidence ranging from 1-26% (Figure 1).

Bacterial blight symptoms were observed in field pea beginning in early June when the crop was at late vegetative to early reproductive growth stages. Incidence reached 40-50% in some fields (Figure 2) with 2-18% of the crop canopy exhibiting symptoms. White mold was not observed in pea fields.

Onset of Ascochyta blight in chickpea was in mid-June, when the crop was at mid to late vegetative growth stages. Fields varied greatly in incidence and severity of Ascochyta symptoms (Figure 3). In some fields, the percent of plants showing symptoms stayed below 4% throughout the survey, while in others incidence reached 100% by mid-July. The differences observed among fields were most likely due to the amount of the fungal pathogen present in fields (inoculum), rainfall and fungicide application timing.

Thank You to all the producers who participated in the pulse crop scouting effort!

The Northern Pulse Growers Association funded this work.