RESISTANCE TO AND DIVERSITY OF ASCOCHYTA

BLIGHT IN COMMON BEANS

Matthew W. Blair1, Luz Nayibe Garzón G.2, Carlos Jara1,

Guillermo Castellanos1, Gloria Mosquera1, Gustavo A. Ligarreto2,
Oscar A. Oliveros G.2, Carlos M. Rivera2 and Paola Villarrraga3
1
International Center for Tropical Agriculture–CIAT; 2National University
of Colombia-Bogotá; and 3Universidad Colegio Mayor of Cundinamarca

INTRODUCTION: Disease losses in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) to Ascochyta blight
caused by the fungal pathogen Phoma exigua var. diversispora can amount to 84% in highland
environments of the Andes and is especially prevalent in the Departments of Antioquia, Boyacá,
Cauca, Cundinamarca and Nariño in Colombia and in many parts of Ecuador and Peru as well
(CIAT, 1984). Few studies have analyzed any suspected resistance sources or local varieties for their
level of disease infection nor the inheritance of resistance to Ascochyta blight in beans. In some
initial screening in Peru, F. Camarena identified a set of genebank accessions with some level of
resistance mostly from a relative species, P. coccinues. Two other studies in common bean,
however, found that resistance is never very high and only a few genotypes present intermediate
levels of resistance (De la Cruz 1990; Erazo and Pastor-Corrales 1990). Meanwhile, the existance of
pathogenic races for the disease has not been confirmed and no genotypes defined as differentials for
the analysis of differential infection exist. Despite all this we have recently made a collection of
isolates for the pathogen in an attempt to differentiate strains from different regions of Colombia
based on differential reactions with previously described resistance sources. The objective of this
study has been to describe the diversity of these strains and to differentiate the reaction of local
cultivars and possible resistance source to Ascochyta blight, through pathogenicity tests with four
new isolates of the disease.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Plant material: A set of ten common bean (P. vulgaris) landraces were used in this study
along with four control genotypes from CIAT mapping populations. Among the landraces were six
from the CIAT-managed genebank for common beans (G10747, G3367, G3991, G4032, G6436,
G9603) which were recommended as resistant to Ascochyta blight based on De la Cruz (1990) and
four important climbing bean accessions/varieties collected by the National Univ. of Colombia
(Agrario, Cabrera, Cargamanto Rojo, D. Moreno) which are important in production systems that are
often heavily affected by Ascochyta blight. Apart from these 14 genotypes four bi-parental mapping
population parents were used as checks since some have shown resistance to anthracnose and
possibly to Ascochyta blight (G2333, G19839, G19833 and DOR364).
Infection and pathogenicity tests: Four isolates were used in pathogenicity tests and to
determine the level of resistance or susceptibility of the genotypes described above. These were from
four different production regions in four separate departments of Colombia: Popayan, Cauca (isolate
ASC1), Rionegro, Antioquia (isolate ASC3), Silvania, Cundinamarca (isolate ASC 35) and Socorro,
Santander (isolate ASC236).Plant were inoculated at 14 days after planting in an isolated humidity
chamber within a CIAT greenhouse in Palmira, Valle de Cauca. Plants were rated at eight days post-
inoculation based on a severity scale of 1 to 9 as recommended in the CIAT evaluation handbook.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: A differential response was found for the genotypes and strains of
the pathogen tested in the disease screening tests (Table 1), indicating that races of Ascochyta blight

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exist with different pathogenicity profiles. Among the four strains of the disease the most aggressive
was the one from Popayán. The strain from Santander was the weakest, causing severe disease in only
four genotypes while the rest were intermediate in susceptibility. A P. coccineus (scarlet runner bean)
accession (G35182) was also tested and showed higher levels of resistance as expected since this
species unlike P. vulgaris (common bean) is rarely attacked by Ascochyta blight. Among the common
bean genotypes, the four Colombian landraces were variable in susceptibility with D. Moreno more
susceptible than the three other accessions which were only attacked severely by the strongest strain as
mentioned above. Among the sources of resistance the most resistant against all strains were G4032
and G6436 while differential responses were found in the other genotypes except G9603 which was
susceptible to all strains of the disease. It was notable that the variability in resistance sources was
found within the Mesoamerican genepool while the Colombian landraces were all of the Andean
genepool; making it important to screen for differential response before making crosses among the
two genepools. Establishment of a differential set including the genotypes tested here would be
valuable for further work in Ascochyta blight resistance breeding. Finally a set of genetic mapping
parents were found to vary for resistance to the weakest strain mentioned above with the resistant
allele coming from the Andean genotypes (G19833 and G19839) and the susceptible allele coming
from the Mesoamerican genotypes (DOR364 and G2333). This is important since G2333 has been
used for crosses to improve anthracnose resistance and it is important to monitor that susceptibility to
Ascochyta blight is not co-inherited with that resistance.

Table 1. Sources of resistance evaluated against four Colombian isolates of the disease Ascochyta
blight casued by Phoma exigua var. diversisporum.
Gene Infection level with corresponding strains
Genotype Pool (P. Popayán Antioquia Cundinamarca Santander ASC
vulgaris) ASC1 ASC3 ASC35 236
Agrario A S I I I
Cabrera A S I I I
Cargamanto A I I I I
D. Moreno A S S S I
G3367 MA S I S S
G3991 MA S S S I
G9603 - S S S S
G4032 MA I I I I
G6436 MA I I I I
G10747 MA I I S I
G19833 A S S S I
DOR364 MA S S S S
G2333 MA S S S S
G19839 A S S S I
G35182 P. cocc. R R R R

REFERENCES
Camarena, M. F., Huaringa J. A., Mattos C. L., Mostacero N. E. and Chiappe V. L. (year not reported).
Resistencia a la mancha de la ascochita en frijol. Programa de Leguminosas de Grano de la Universidad
Nacional Agraria La Molina.
De la Cruz, H. 1990. Selección de progenitores por resistencia a ascochyta en frijol. RELEZA I. 7-8-9
Mayo/90 Quito - Ecuador.
Erazo O. and M. Pastor-Corrales. 1990. Prácticas culturales y resistencia genética para el manejo de la
ascochyta del frijol. RELEZA I. 7-8-9 Mayo 90, Quito-Ecuador.

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