Damage symptoms
Ascochyta pisicauses spots on leaves, stems and pods of peas. The spots on leaves and pods are round, on the stems they are more elongated. The lesions are light brown, sunken and surrounded by a dark brown to red-brown border. The first infection is often on the primary leaves. The fungus is seed borne and thus also causes post- and pre-emergence damping off and dwarfing.
Other Ascochyta species may also infect peas. Ascochyta pinodes causes Ascochyta blight, which causes darker spots than Ascochyta pisi. Ascochyta pinodella (current preferred name Phoma medicaginis var. pinodella) causes foot rot in peas, whereas Ascochyta pisi does occur sometimes at the stem base but is not part of the foot rot syndrome in peas. Infected seeds may have brown areas.
