ARS | Publication request: Mysterious Chickpea Disease

Submitted to: Pulse Pipeline
Publication Type: Research Notes
Publication Acceptance Date: July 28, 2010
Publication Date: July 30, 2010
Citation: Chen, W., Vandemark, G.J. 2010. Mysterious Chickpea Disease. Pulse Pipeline. Vol:10, Issue 5.

Interpretive Summary: A mysterious disease occurred on chickpea in the Pacific Northwest. The symptoms started to show in late June consisted wilting of growing tips, and progressed to yellowing and death of the whole plant. This article is aimed at informing the growers about the research efforts carried out at the USDA ARS Grain Legume Genetics and Physiology Research Unit toward identifying the cause of the idease.

Technical Abstract: A mysterious disease of chickpea is widespread this year in the Palouse region. Symptoms started showing in late June, and symptomatic plants were scattered all over in fields. Initial symptoms included necrosis/die back of growing tips. The leaves of infected plants turned bronze/yellow, and the plants senesced prematurely. A second type of symptoms included wilting of the plants with leaves still green. No fungal pathogens were isolated from the diseased plants. Attempts were made to detect any viruses in the diseased plants. A battery of 13 viruses that are known to infect chickpea were tested on more than 20 symptomatic samples collected from 19 chickpea fields from the Palouse region. Pea streak virus and pea enation mosaic virus were detected only once each in two separate samples, and no viruses were detected in any of the other samples. The cause of this disease remains under investigation.