EVALUATION OF A WILD LENTIL COLLECTION FOR RESISTANCE TO VASCULAR WILT

Vascular wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lentis Vasud. & Srin. is the major disease of the cultivated lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus). Host plant resistance is the most practical method of disease management. Wild lentils represent an unexplored potential source for disease resistance and other characters. Screening 219 accessions of wild Lens Miller and 2 accessions of Vicia montbretii Fisch. & Mey. (syn. Lens montbretii (Fisch et Mey) Davis et Plitm.) for resistance to a Syrian isolate of this fungus at the seedling stage was conducted under artificial inoculation in a plastic house. Resistance at the reproductive growth stage was confirmed in pots in a plastic house and in a wilt-sick plot. Three accessions each of Lens culinaris ssp. orienralis (Boiss.) Ponert and L. nigricans M.B. Godr. ssp. nigricans Godr. and 2 oft. nigricans ssp. ervoides (Brign.) Lad. maintained their resistance at the reproductive growth stage in the plastic house. All accessions of L. culinaris ssp. odemensis Lad. and V. montbretii were susceptible. However, in the sick-plot only three accessions (ILWL 79 & ILWL 113 of L. culinaris ssp. orientalis and ILWL 138 of L. nigricans ssp. ervoides) maintained a good level of resistance. Resistance at the seedling stage was often found in accessions collected from northern and western sites of the distribution of the genus at low elevations. The most resistant accessions in the field at the reproductive growth stage were from Syria and Turkey.