The characteristics of 50 isolates of Mycosphaerella pinodes and 17 isolates of Phoma medicaginis var. pinodella, originating from several regions of France where ascochyta blight is prevalent, were investigated using cultural, physiological, molecular and pathogenicity analyses. M. pinodes was distinguished from P. medicaginis var. pinodella on the basis of presence of pseudothecia, a higher proportion of larger, bicellular conidia, compared with the smaller, predominantly unicellular conidia of P. medicaginis var. pinodella, and a slower linear growth rate on agar under a 12-h light regime. RAPD analysis clearly distinguished the two species, which had low intraspecific variability. Although both species gave identical symptoms, they could be distinguished by their incubation period and aggressiveness, respectively, shorter and higher for M. pinodes. Virulence tests gave no definitive evidence for the existence of pathotypes among the M. pinodes isolates. Two unidentified isolates had similar characters to both M. pinodes and P. medicaginis var. pinodella in some features but were distinguished from them by their RAPD patterns.

The aetiology of blight of chickpea in South Australia was studied following sporadic disease outbreaks over several years that had been tentatively identified as Phoma blight. Nine fungal isolates from diseased chickpeas were tested for pathogenicity in the glasshouse, of which two caused symptoms resembling those of Ascochyta blight. The two aggressive isolates were identified as Ascochyta rabiei based on morphological characteristics of cultures and RAPD analysis. This was further confirmed by successful mating to international standard isolates, which showed that the two Australian isolates were MAT1‐1. These isolates are accessioned as DAR 71767 and DAR 71768, New South Wales Agriculture, Australia. This is the first time that A. rabiei has been positively identified in commercial chickpeas in the southern hemisphere. The pathogen was found (in 1992) in only one of 59 seed samples harvested throughout Australia between 1992 and 1996 and tested using International Seed Testing Association methods. The teleomorph has not been found in Australia and results to date suggest that only one mating type is present. This suggests that quarantine restrictions on imported chickpea seed should be retained to prevent the introduction of the opposite mating type.