Lack of effective resistance to the virulent race ofColletotrichum lentisinLens culinarisMedikus subsp.culinaris

Anthracnose caused byColletotrichum lentisis an important fungal disease of lentil in western Canada. Two known pathogenicC. lentisraces, race 0 and race 1 have been identified and current cultivars of lentil have little or no resistance to the virulent race 0. SevenLens culinarissubsp.culinarislandrace accessions were previously reported to have resistance toC. lentisrace 0. In this study, accession VIR-2633, with reported resistance to both races ofC. lentis, and seven accessions were assessed for race 0 resistance relative to LR-59-81, an interspecific line derived from aL. culinarissubsp.culinarisxLens ervoidescross. The results showed a lack of effective resistance to race 0 among the testedL. culinarisaccessions when compared to that of LR-59-81. A few sublines displayed modest improvements in resistance compared to the susceptible check 'Eston', but were significantly more susceptible than LR-59-81. Moreover, screening of the sublines of accession VIR-2633 identified 12 sublines with resistance to race 1, but all VIR-2633 sublines were susceptible to race 0. The study underlined the importance of wild lentil germplasm for broadening the genetic base of cultivated lentil and their usefulness in disease screening experiments as positive checks.