Sources of resistance to downy mildew in narbon (Vicia narbonensis) and common (Vicia sativa) vetches

Downy mildew (Peronospora viciae (Berk) de Bary) is an important disease of vetches (Vicia spp.) in the Mediterranean Region. Narbon and common vetch germplasm accessions originating from different countries, and advanced bre eding narbon vetch genotypes, were evaluated for reaction to downy mildew f or two seasons under field conditions. In narbon vetch, there were resistan t sources from both germplasm accessions and advanced genotypes. From the g ermplasm accessions, 25 accessions were resistant while from the advanced b reeding genotypes, 10 had resistance, with 2-3 ratings. In common vetch, ma ny accessions were highly resistant to downy mildew. These were widely dist ributed in different countries, mainly Turkey, Italy, Syria and Iran. In ge neral, common vetch had higher sources of resistance than the narbon vetch accessions. These new sources of resistance to downy mildew will be incorpo rated into the forage legume improvement project in a continuous effort to identify cultivars suitable for replacing fallow in the cereal-based croppi ng systems.