Beware the fungus.
Canada’s fledgling chickpea industry has great prospects, but they could all be ruined if ascochyta blight gets a foothold in the crop.
Bert Vandenberg, a pulse breeder with the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre in Saskatoon, warned farmers at the annual Saskatchewan Pulse Growers meeting last week of the danger.
He said all chickpea varieties have resistance to the type of ascochyta blight found in soil in Western Canada.
“You should really resist the temptation to think about growing anything that isn’t (resistant) because it will be the very quick end to a chickpea industry that just got started if we start breeding fungus,” he said.
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“The Australian crop was wiped out. The Syrian crop was wiped out two years ago. The Turkish crop has struggled for the last three years because of the outbreak of a new race of the fungus. The fungus is actually one step ahead of the chickpea at this point.”
If these foreign strains made their way to Canada in imported seed it would be a disaster, he said. Although Canadian varieties have resistance to the ascochyta found here, the trait probably wouldn’t stand up to other strains of the blight, he said.
Vandenberg also gave growers an update on new pulse varieties they can expect to see in the next few years.
Chickpeas
Kabuli varieties CDC Xena, CDC Yuma and CDC Chico are all registered and in the seed multiplication stage.
“They won’t be available at the certified seed level for at least another year and possibly two in the case of the larger seeded ones,” he said.
Three new kabuli lines are under consideration for release in 2000. One called 92040-10 has slightly better yield than Myles in the dark brown soil zone and is lighter in color and more plump.
92050-26D shows seven percent higher yield than Myles in the brown soil zone, has a significantly heavier seed and is plump and tan.
The line 92056-50 is the best yielder with 10 percent higher production in the brown zone and 12 percent better yield in the dark brown zone. It takes a little longer to mature than Myles.
A new CDC desi line called 92040-10 is being multiplied in Arizona. It is a little earlier maturing and has similar yield to Myles. The attraction is that it is more plump, making splitting easier, and has a light tan seed coat.
“Whenever I show these to chickpea brokers, they always gravitate toward the light-colored ones,” he said.
Peas
A yellow line called 9704 might set a new standard for pea yield, said Vandenberg. In two years of co-op trials, it has shown yield increases over Carneval of seven percent in cooler, wetter areas and 13 percent in drier, warmer areas.
“The main reason behind the high yield is resistance to powdery mildew,” he said.
“This disease takes a little cut from your crop at the end of the season if it shows up. Most people say it doesn’t do much, but we consistently show that on average it is a 10 percent differential.”
The 9704 line is semi-leafless, has a medium rating for lodging and a medium-small seed. It has the same height as Carneval and the same maturity as Grande, but is relatively late in maturing.
“One of the interesting things about this line is that it has reduced seed breakage …. It’s a nice tough little pea.”
Another yellow line called 9705 has 12 percent better yield in the cool, moist area and 10 percent better yield in the drier, warmer area compared to Carneval.
It too is resistant to powdery mildew and is semi-leafless. Vandenberg thinks it will be more popular in the cool/wet areas.
Bleaching is a big problem in green peas and 9710 does a good job of retaining its color, as good as the check variety Keoma. It has better lodging resistance and higher yield. It has Carneval height and Grande maturity.
It does not have resistance to powdery mildew.
Lentils
In the laird class are 652 and 804-3. Both are ascochyta resistant. With two years of trials 652 appears to be a little earlier than laird, has about seven percent higher yield and the seed is bigger.
The 804-3 line has about eight percent higher yield and earlier maturity than laird. It also has a smaller seed that is plumper and rounder, leading to less damage in handling.
Both are multiplied and in the bin, ready to go to select seed growers this spring.
In the small red class are 803-13 and 599-23.
The first is more plump than Redwing. “That is the one consistent comment we get from the marketplace on Redwing is that they wish it was plumper.”
It has similar yield to Redwing.
The other line is smaller than Eston and has a Crimson-type seed coat. “We think this has some potential in the whole market.”
One year of data shows it has about nine percent better yield than Redwing.
It is also the first lentil line to have resistance to anthracnose.
These two varieties are being multiplied in Chile and if all goes well, should be released to select growers here this spring.
Pink bean
A new line called 95-34-6 is awaiting quality tests. If it looks good, Vandenberg expects breeder seed to be available in 2000 for multiplication.
It has a 20-25 percent bigger seed than Viva. Buyers tend to like bigger seed.
