Histological studies on the infection of triticale, wheat and rye byPuccinia recondita f.sp.tritici andP. recondita f.sp.recondita

Abstract

The reaction of eight triticales and of the respective wheat and rye parental lines to infection by the leaf rust fungi of wheat and rye were studied in the seedling stage. The histological observations indicated that wheat and triticale showed a typical nonhost reaction to the leaf rust of rye: sporelings of this fungus were arrested after the formation of primary infection hyphae and before the formation of extensively branched mycelium, mostly without necrosis of plant cells. The rye inbred lines were all susceptible to the rye leaf rust. The reaction of wheat and triticales to the wheat leaf rust was susceptible or resistant. The reaction of resistant lines could be early or late and complete or incomplete, but was associated with substantial necrosis of plant cells, and therefore entirely different from the nonhost reaction to rye leaf rust. In their reaction to wheat leaf rust the rye lines were similar to the resistant wheat and triticale lines. They did not show an important degree of nonhypersensitive early abortion as would be expected in a nonhost species. It appeared that genes for hypersensitive resistance in triticale may be contributed by either the wheat or the rye parental line. A screening of sixty wheat, rye and triticale lines confirmed the nonhost status of wheat and triticale to rye leaf rust and the hypersensitive or moderately susceptible reaction of rye to wheat leaf rust.