Abstract

Ascospores of Didymella rabiei were trapped from chickpea stubble containing naturally occurring pseudothecia. Ascospores produced typical Ascochyta rabiei cultures on potato-dextrose agar plus gentamicin. Ascochyta blight developed on chickpea plants inoculated with conidia derived from single-ascospore cultures. This is the first record of the teleomorph, D. rabiei, in Australia. Its presence has implications in the long distance dispersal and epidemiology of ascochyta blight.