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Article: Chickpea disease tied to fungal culprit.(Brief article)
- Article from:
- Agricultural Research
- Article date:
- April 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 U.S. Government Printing Office. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Although the fungus Sclerotinia trifoliorum plagues legume crops worldwide, most chickpea crops appeared to have evaded infection. But during the 2005-06 chickpea growing season in central California, scientists observed stem and crown rots reminiscent of Sclerotinia infection. Subtle irregularities in the symptoms led the researchers to believe their prime suspect--S, sclerotiorum, which infects more than 400 plant species--had an accomplice, namely S. trifoliorum.
The researchers examined 10 Sclerotinia isolates from their collection of chickpea stems and subjected each to three identification criteria. Their analysis showed that S. trifoliorum isolates were ...