If Environment Canada’s latest precipitation forecasts come true, it’s
going to be a wet spring and summer on the Prairies – ideal conditions
for the spread of ascochyta blight.
That’s why it is welcome news that one of the best tools for combatting
seed-borne ascochyta infection in chickpeas has been legalized.
The Pest Management Regulatory Agency has granted a label expansion for
Crown, a seed treatment produced by Gustafson Partnership.
Crown was originally registered in 1994 as a seed protectant for
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lentils. It can now be applied to chickpeas to control seed-borne
ascochyta, an aggressive fungal disease that spreads rapidly under
moist conditions.
“This label expansion is great news for farmers growing chickpeas,”
said Garth Patterson, executive director of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers.
Farmers seeded 1.2 million acres of chickpeas last year and produced
465,000 tonnes. Acreage is expected to decrease in 2002, but it will
still be a high-value crop for farmers.
Saskatchewan Agriculture plant disease specialist Penny Pearse
estimated that between 75 and 85 percent of chickpea producers applied
Crown last year after the PMRA granted Gustafson a temporary
registration. It may be even higher this year, she added.
Pearse recommended producers use the treatment if they find any amount
of ascochyta in their seed or if the seed comes from a field where
disease symptoms were seen the previous season.
“With this disease, I think it’s very important to control what you’re
taking into a field,” she said.
“I do think seed treatments are very valuable for this disease and this
crop.”
But it is not the only tool. Other control measures include:
- Choosing quality seed with high germination rates and less than three
percent ascochyta infection.
- Picking varieties with more ascochyta tolerance such as desis, B-90s,
CDC Chico and CDC Yuma.
- Using a four-year rotation, with three full years between chickpea
crops.
- Scouting the fields at the seedling stage looking for small brown
spots or lesions on the leaves or stems of plants.
- Using a foliar fungicide for control if the disease is detected.
The only foliar fungicide now registered for chickpeas is Syngenta’s
Bravo. Two others are awaiting registration – Headline from BASF and
Quadris from Syngenta.
Pearse estimated that 10 percent of last year’s chickpea crop succumbed
to ascochyta blight and 25 percent in 2000.
At the highest recommended rate of application, Crown would cost
between $11 and $13 an acre for desi chickpeas and between $16 and $19
an acre for kabulis.
