Inheritance of insensitivity to culture filtrate of Pyrenophora tritici‐repentis, race 2, in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Abstract

AbstractTan spot of wheat is caused by the fungus Pyrenophora tritici‐repentis. On susceptible hosts, P. tritici‐repentis induces two phenotypically distinct symptoms, tan necrosis and chlorosis. This fungus produces several toxins that induce tan necrosis and chlorosis symptoms in susceptible cultivars. The objectives of this study were to determine the inheritance of insensitivity to necrosis‐inducing culture filtrate of P. tritici‐repentis, race 2, and to establish the relationship between the host reaction to culture filtrate and spore inoculation with respect to the necrosis component. The F1, F2, and BC1F1 plants and F2:8 lines of five crosses involving resistant wheat genotypes ‘Erik’, ‘Red Chief’, and line 86ISMN 2137 with susceptible cultivars ‘Glenlea’ and ‘Kenyon’ were studied. Plants were spore‐inoculated at the two‐leaf stage. Four days later, the newly emerged uninoculated third leaf was infiltrated with a culture filtrate of isolate Ptr 92–164 (race 2). Reactions to the spore inoculation and the culture filtrate were recorded 8 days after spore inoculation. The segregation observed in the F2 and BC1F1 generations and the F2:8 lines of all crosses indicated that a single recessive gene controlled insensitivity to necrosis caused by culture filtrate. This gene also controlled resistance to necrosis induced by spore inoculation.