- A fungus called Colletotrichum truncatum causes this disease.
Why Does it Matter?
- Yield loss. If weather conditions are right for the disease, yield losses can be as high as 50%.
- Grade loss. Infected seed is likely to be shriveled and discolored and will substantially reduce the seed grade.
What are the Symptoms?
- Tan-colored oval lesions on lower leaflets. Severely infected leaflets die and fall off.
- Stem lesions are sunken, small, brownish with black margins that enlarge and may girdle the stem.
- Stem girdling causes plants to wilt and die (unlike ascochyta, which does not cause wilt or plant death).
- Very distinctive small, dark fruiting bodies with bristles (setae) within the lesions.
What is the Disease Cycle?
- Emerging plants generally become infected from spores growing on debris in the soil.
- Symptoms become visible 7 to 8 days after infection.
- Infection starts on the lower part of plants and spreads upward through rain splash.
- The disease is favored by warm (20o C to 24o C) weather and infection will only take place if the leaves remain wet for 18 to 24 hours.
- High winds during combining can readily carry infected debris from field to field.
How is it Controlled?
- Use disease-free, treated seed.
- Follow the recommended minimum crop rotation of 4 years.
- Do not plant seed near fields where lentils were previously grown.
- Eliminate volunteer lentils and wild vetch.
- If the anthracnose is present, apply a foliar fungicide the 10 to 12 node stage, before the fungus attacks the stems. Do not bury stubble. Unlike many other fungi, anthracnose decomposes quicker when it is left on the surface.
How Does 20/20 Seed Labs Inc. Test for Anthracnose in Lentils?
- 400 seeds are surface sterilized to remove contaminants on the seed coat then placed on culture agar and incubated for 7 days.
- A qualified staff member examines the plates for the presence of Colletotrichum truncatum. Identification is made by observing the type and color of the mycelium and the spore bearing structures produced.
- This test gives the percentage of infected seeds to 0.25%.
- This test takes one week to complete.
Combined tests for botrytis, ascochyta, anthracnose, stemphylium and sclerotinia are available at reduced rates, depending on the number of disease tests requested.
Please contact us for more information.
