The disease is favoured by wet and mild conditions, particularly during the spring when the canopy is dense. We have shown that A. rabiei is already in South Australia, however, its distribution elsewhere in Australia is unknown. There have been a number of outbreaks of diseases in chickpeas which resemble Ascochyta blight, however, identified as Phoma medicaginis or Phoma pinodella , related pathogens on lucerne and medic, and peas respectively. WHAT TO LOOK FOR The pathogen infects all parts of the plant, however, the most damage is caused when it infects the stems. Lesions on stems are pale brown initially, sometimes with a dark margin and all growth above the lesion is killed.
Branches often break at stem lesions.
Leaf spots are pale brown or grey and these are often inconspicuous. Infection can be severe on the pods and this leads to seed infection. Infected seedlings often wither and die. Spores ooze out of these bodies and are splash dispersed around the plant. Infected plants may die, but most plants recover from the infection by reshooting below the stem lesions.