How To Recognize Lentil Diseases?

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Many people try to grow lentils, but various ailments often negate all the efforts made by diligent summer residents. How to be? To understand what kind of ailment struck the lentils, you need to familiarize yourself with the information on how the manifestations of a particular disease look in a given culture. Only in this case it will be possible to make the correct "diagnosis" of the plants and take the necessary measures to save the growing crops

Fusarium

Most often, the manifestations of this disease are focal in nature, and its first symptoms begin to appear about eighteen to twenty days after sowing. Lentils begin to gradually turn yellow, lag behind in growth and shed their lower leaves. And when its roots turn brown, the plants die. By the way, in the lower parts of the stems of the crops attacked by the disease, you can see the pads of fungal sporulation, painted in whitish-pinkish tones. Fusarium often leads to the death of 25 - 30% of seedlings.

Rust

This infection can be found in all areas where lentils are cultivated. It manifests itself as characteristic pustules on the leaves and pods with stalks. And closer to the end of the growing season, dark brown telia, densely packed with harmful teliospores, form on both sides of the leaves and on the stalks with beans. Rust significantly degrades the quality of the grains, and also leads to a loss of up to 25 - 27% of the yield.

Ascochitosis

Small and indistinct yellowish spots merging with each other begin to appear on the lentil leaves, as well as on its stems and beans. And a little later, narrow brownish rims appear along their periphery. As the ill-fated misfortune develops on the specks, well-visible brownish or black dot-shaped pycnidia begin to appear, which can be either lenticular or flattened. Ascochitis attacks the lentils especially strongly in warm and humid years, and initially it is almost always focal in nature, and then begins to spread throughout the entire area. Lentil seedlings often die, crops are noticeably thinned out, and affected plants give very weak seeds. In general, the harvest is reduced by 25 - 35%.

Powdery mildew

This attack is found absolutely everywhere. It is especially rampant when dry and hot weather is established. Powdery mildew can be seen not only on leafy stalks, but also on stalked beans. On all of the above plant organs, you can notice a cobweb powdery coating of white color. The assimilation surface of the leaves as a result of damage by this ailment decreases markedly, as a result of which the chlorophyll contained in them begins to gradually break down. And the grain yield drops by 15 - 20%.

Peronosporosis

Blurry chlorotic yellowish specks form on the beans, stems and leaves of lentils, which dry out after some time. And on the lower sides of the affected leaves, you can notice the appearance of a rather loose plaque. Initially, such a plaque is painted in dirty gray shades, and a little later it begins to turn brown. There are two forms of lentil peronosporosis: local (local), in which the infection covers only certain areas of plant tissues, and systemic (or diffuse), when the disease completely covers individual organs of the lentil or affects the entire plant. At moderate temperatures, combined with frequent precipitation and high air humidity, peronosporosis is even more rampant. The yield as a result of damage by this disease is reduced by about 25 - 30%, and seed germination decreases by 6 - 8%.

Root rot

It manifests itself mainly on the upper parts of the roots bordering the stems. In these areas, you can see dark oblong specks. And on plant cuts, the vascular system of the roots is clearly visible. Infected roots rot, which in turn leads to the inevitable yellowing and wilting of plants.