Identification of resistance to Ascochyta fabae in Vicia faba germplasm

Abstract

A total of 752 faba bean accessions were screened under field conditions for resistance to Ascochyta fabae. Several methods of assessing disease development were compared for evaluating the resistance of these accessions. Thirty-four accessions displayed low disease severity ratings. In 15 of them, lesions were restricted in size and number, whereas in the remaining 19, lesions were well developed but scarce. These lines could have been discarded if screening had depended only on scales based on lesion type, which shows the need to complement such scores with disease severity or to use a simplified scale that integrates both lesion type and the amount of damage.