Physiologic races of wheat stem rust in Canada from 1919 to 1969

Abstract

The races of wheat stem rust found in Canada and identified by the "standard" and "formula" methods are described. Seven races or race groups made up 90.8% of the isolates. In 1964 a new system of race identification was introduced. It makes use of virulence formulas consisting of the numbers of effective resistance genes in the numerator and ineffective genes in the denominator. Resistance genes Sr6, Sr8, Sr9a, Sr9b, and Sr13 confer resistance to most isolates obtained since 1964, but no single gene confers resistance to all isolates. Experience shows that 250 isolates per year are sufficient to establish the trends of prevalence of the main races. The detection of rare, new combinations of virulence requires screening varieties carrying combinations of resistance genes. The main races in the past 50 years have been 56 and 15B. Race 56 is uniform with a single subrace but 15B is variable with many subraces. There is no evidence that unnecessary virulence is harmful or that "stabilizing selection" is operative in Canada, nor is there evidence that virulence on resistance genes Sr6 and Sr11 is harmful to the rust.