Symptoms include lesions on leaves, stem and pods of plants. The disease is difficult to distinguish from blight caused by Ascochyta pisi, though D. pinodes is the more aggressive of the two pathogens.[4]
The disease cycle starts with dissemination of ascospores after which germination pycnidia rapidly develop.[5] Pycnidiaspores quickly disperse by rain splashes are responsible for reinfection over short distances. Consequently, production of pseudothecia is initiated on senescent tissues. After rainfall, ascospores are released from the pseudothecia and disperse by wind over long distances.[6]
Useful levels of resistance remain to be determined and the application of fungicidal sprays was reported to be uneconomical.[7][8] Furthermore, reports showed that insensitivity arises against chemicals such as strobilurons after continuous application.[9] Thus, cultural management is the preliminary option to control the disease progress by minimizing inoculum carry over as well as survival of inoculum on crop residues and in soil, and avoiding initial infection from arial inoculum.[10] Furthermore, burying of infected residues declines pathogen survival,[11] however, crop rotation and tillage regimes have little influence on disease severity.[12] Delayed sowing by 3–4 weeks reduces ascochyta blight severity by more than 50%,[13] however, such measures are not feasible at higher latitudes, because of a shorter growing season.
So far, only incomplete resistance is available in the pea germplasm and quantitative differences are highly influenced by environmental conditions, plant age and physiological characteristics of plants.[14][15] Tall cultivars with more erect growth suffer lower D. pinodes infection.[16] Susceptibility increases with earliness [17] and along with maturity of plants.[18]
Besides morphological traits, a proteomic and metabolomic study pinpointed molecular markers contributing to resistance.[19] Disease severity of leaves was also reported to be lower when pea plants are associated with rhizobial bacteria that presumably provoke so called induced systemic resistance.[20]
^Clulow, S. A.; Lewis, B. G.; Parker, Mary L.; Matthews, P. (1991-07-01). "Infection of pea epicotyls by Mycosphaerella pinodes". Mycological Research. 95 (7): 817–820. doi:10.1016/S0953-7562(09)80044-0.
^Tivoli, B.; Beasse, C.; Lemarchand, E.; Masson, E. (1996-10-01). "Effect of ascochyta blight (Mycosphaerella pinodes) on yield components of single pea (Pisum sativum) plants under field conditions". Annals of Applied Biology. 129 (2): 207–216. doi:10.1111/j.1744-7348.1996.tb05745.x. ISSN1744-7348.
^Tivoli, Bernard; Banniza, Sabine (2007-03-27). "Comparison of the epidemiology of ascochyta blights on grain legumes". European Journal of Plant Pathology. 119 (1): 59–76. doi:10.1007/s10658-007-9117-9. ISSN0929-1873. S2CID38947539.
^Khan, T. N.; Timmerman-Vaughan, G. M.; Rubiales, D.; Warkentin, T. D.; Siddique, K. H. M.; Erskine, W.; Barbetti, M. J. (2013-07-01). "Didymella pinodes and its management in field pea: Challenges and opportunities". Field Crops Research. 148: 61–77. doi:10.1016/j.fcr.2013.04.003. hdl:10261/87380.
^Bretag, TW; Keane, PJ; Price, TV (1995-07-01). "Effect of Ascochyta blight on the grain yield of field peas (Pisum sativum L.) grown in southern Australia". Animal Production Science. 35 (4): 531. doi:10.1071/EA9950531. ISSN1836-5787.
^McDonald, G. K.; Peck, D. (2009-03-15). "Effects of crop rotation, residue retention and sowing time on the incidence and survival of ascochyta blight and its effect on grain yield of field peas (Pisum sativum L.)". Field Crops Research. 111 (1–2): 11–21. doi:10.1016/j.fcr.2008.10.001.
^Salam, Moin U.; MacLeod, William J.; Maling, Tim; Prichard, Ian; Seymour, Mark; Barbetti, Martin J. (2011-03-23). "A meta-analysis of severity and yield loss from ascochyta blight on field pea in Western Australia". Australasian Plant Pathology. 40 (6): 591–600. doi:10.1007/s13313-011-0034-1. ISSN0815-3191. S2CID23735358.
^Wroth, Janet M. (1999). "Evidence suggests that Mycosphaerella pinodes infection of Pisum sativum is inherited as a quantitative trait". Euphytica. 107 (3): 193–204. doi:10.1023/A:1003688430893. ISSN0014-2336. S2CID20590523.
^Fondevilla, S.; Satovic, Z.; Rubiales, D.; Moreno, M. T.; Torres, A. M. (2007-12-13). "Mapping of quantitative trait loci for resistance to Mycosphaerella pinodes in Pisum sativum subsp. syriacum". Molecular Breeding. 21 (4): 439–454. doi:10.1007/s11032-007-9144-4. ISSN1380-3743. S2CID23302498.
^Bretag, T.W. (2001). Compendium of Pea Diseases and Pests; Foliar diseases caused by fungi. Minnesota. pp. 24–28.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Hagedorn, D.J. (1991). Handbook of pea Diseases. Minnesota. pp. 11–15.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
