Mycoflora of rhizomes and roots of <i>Elytrigia repens</i> a potential inoculum source for takeall in wheat

Abstract

Elytrigia repens is a host of the wheat takeall pathogen Gaeumannomyces graminis var tritici (Ggt) While E repens does not suffer substantial damage from infection by Ggt rhizomes and roots of this plant are potential carriers of Ggt and the infested residues are likely to provide sources of inoculum for wheat The mycoflora of rhizomes and roots of E repens collected from three arable cropping sites over six sampling occasions were examined The possible causes of root and rhizome lesions and fungi that might provide a level of biological control of Ggt in E repens were identified Ggt was not always associated with lesions and other fungi may also cause lesions on E repens Most Ggt was isolated from E repens collected from an area where severe takeall infection had previously been observed in wheat Microdochium bolleyi cooccurred most frequently with Ggt and the potential of M bolleyi as a biocontrol agent for takeall is discussed