Evaluation of Phenotypic Resistance to Rusts in some Iranian Wheat Genotypes in Greenhouse and Field Conditions

Abstract

Rusts are important diseases of wheat in case of economy and distribution in the world and use of resistant cultivars is the best method to control them. In the present study, reaction of 124 Iranian wheat genotypes were evaluated against five dominant isolates of each yellow rust (YR), leaf rust (LR) and stem rust (SR) at seedling stage. All genotypes were also evaluated at adult plant stage in field and area under disease progress curve (AUDPC) was calculated for them. The results showed that from 124 genotypes, 35, 24 and 7 genotypes were resistant to all isolates of YR, LR and Sr respectively. Line N-87-13 was resistant to all three rusts. Line M-87-18 that carries Lr24/Sr24 genes showed resistance reaction to leaf and stem rust isolates. Nine genotypes DM-84-3, DM-79-2, M-86-5, N-87-13, Arta, Dena, Bahar, Sepahan and Sivand were resistant to all YR and LR isolates. Five genotypes N-86-4, N-87-4, N-87-13, WS-86-8 and SS-85-20 showed resistance reaction to all isolates of YR and SR. Totally, 28% of genotypes were resistant to YR, 19% to LR and 5% to SR isolates. Twenty-nine genotypes were known carrying resistance gene Lr34 showed low levels of AUDPD in field. Based on the reaction of cultivar Aflak and line M-85-7 to LR both at seedling and adult plant stages, it seems that they may carry other adult plant resistance gene (s) in addition to Lr34.