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Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a traditional crop species in Turkey that is cultivated in almost every province providing prominent economic income. Turkey has an important resource for both Cicer spp diversity and their phytopathogens like ascohyta blight caused by Didymella rabiei (Kovachevski) von Arx wherein resistance/tolerance is broken every 4-5 years in cultivated chickpea cultivars. In order to breed resistant/tolerant varieties in chickpea against D. rabiei, detailed and up to date analyses on population characterization is needed. This study was undertaken to define current aggressiveness patterns, pathotype and mating type distribution of D. rabiei population in chickpea growing areas of Turkey. The D. rabiei isolates were assigned to 5 virulence groups in which existence of pathotype IV, a new and aggressive group, was defined for the first time from farmers’ fields and research institutes exhibiting continuous arm race between plant and pathogen. The isolates in each pathotype group depicted statistically important difference (P≤ 0.05) in virulence levels on chickpea genotypes. The mating type distribution of 971 D. rabiei isolates was 1:1 for Mat 1.1 and Mat 1.2 isolates (X²= 0.87, P= 0.35) exhibiting random sexual reproduction. Overall, the data obtained revealed the unstable aggressiveness nature of D. rabiei population in Turkey, which, in turn, explains frequent resistance overcome in registered chickpea genotypes leading to epidemics.

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This study was carried out to determine the effects of leaf damage rates at different growth stages of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) cultivars under Eastern Mediterranean conditions of Turkey (Osmaniye Province). The study was conducted in completely randomized design in split-split-plots with three replications, in 2020 and 2021. Cultivars NC 7 and Halisbey were in the main plots, growth stages (R1, R2 and R3) in sub-plots, and leaf damages (control, 25, 50, and 75%) in the sub-sub-plots. Yield and various quality parameters were measured and recorded. The highest value of the number of pods per plant was obtained from the Halisbey (24.5±0.4) cultivar, the R2 period (23.5±0.6), and the control (25.7±0.6) treatment. The number of pods per plant decreased when the leaf damage increased. The highest pod yield was obtained from NC 7 cultivar (2302±8.2 kg ha^-1) and R1 period (2041±9.1 kg ha^-1). The order of leaf damage treatments in terms of yield was as the control (2536±8.8 kg ha^-1), 25% LD treatment (2011±8.0 kg ha^-1), 50% LD treatment (1906±11.9 kg ha^-1), and 75% LD (1481±7.6 kg ha^-1). Thus, it was determined that the selection of cultivars and integrated control against diseases and pests are important in order to reduce the effect of leaf damage on the quality and yield of peanuts in Osmaniye conditions.