Resistance of Pinus taeda families under artificial inoculations with diverse fusiform rust pathogen populations and comparison with field trials

Abstract

Controlled inoculations with 10 bulk inocula of Cronartium quercuum (Berk) Miyabe ex Shirai f.sp. fusiforme were carried out on open-pollinated progeny of 25 fast-growing Pinus taeda L. parents. The parents had a range of breeding values for resistance to fusiform rust in progeny field trials. There were highly significant differences among the half-sib families in response to inoculations, and these differences were very reproducible; the half-sib family-mean heritability of resistance to controlled inoculation was 0.97. All of the families that were susceptible in the field were susceptible in controlled inoculations, and most (12 of 17) of the field-resistant families were resistant in response to controlled inoculations. Significant pathogenic variability was observed among the different bulk inocula, although this accounted for only 1.9% of the total variation. Genetic differences among families within field-resistant or field-susceptible groups accounted for 13.7% of the total variation. The family by inocula interaction was highly significant, but a single field-resistant family contributed 44% of the total family by inocula interaction variance, and two other field-resistant families also showed significant interactions.