Prevalence and harmfulness of winter wheat brown leaf rust (Puccinia recondita Rob. ex desm. f. sp. tritici) in the Southern Steppe of Ukraine

Abstract

Apart from making farmers adapt agricultural technologies to new, more arid conditions in order to obtain sustainable and high yields, global climate change is also known to alter the pathogenicity of plant pathogens, the biological cycle of which is tightly associated with environmental factors. One of the most common diseases of winter wheat is brown leaf rust, caused by Puccinia recondita Rob. ex Desm. f. sp. tritici. In terms of its harmfulness and prevalence among other leaf and stem diseases, brown leaf rust is comparable to yellow and stem rust, septoria leaf blotch and other leaves blotches. Under arid conditions of the Southern Steppe of Ukraine, the disease manifests itself once every five years provided that sufficient moisture, indicated by the hydro-thermal index above 1.0, is present during the spring and summer vegetation periods. The main factor influencing the intensity of pathogen development is moisture supply from April to June (ΣTP> 50 mm). In 2019, the amount of precipitation during this period was 194 mm, which led to the disease development at the level of 18.4% with a spread of 27.2%. Productivity of winter wheat varieties such as Antonivka, Blago and Maria was reduced by 10.8-11.3%, when infected in the phase of milk grain stage (stages 73-77 on the BBCH scale), while net photosynthesis productivity decreased by 14.2-14.3%, which translates to lower average yields of 2.3-3.1 t/ha. To maximize the productive potential of varieties and effectively control the development of the causative agent of brown leaf rust in winter wheat under favourable conditions for epiphytic development, the application of systemic fungicides with long-term protective effect imparted by the chemical group of triazoles (Colossal e.c., 1.0 l/ha ) is recommended in stages 69-71 on the BBCH scale. This provides not only reliable crop protection (Eff.: 77.9-82.0%), but also yields at the level of 3.3 - 4.6 t/ha, depending on the variety under non-irrigated conditions.