The relative resistance of wheat, rye and triticale to take‐all caused by Gaeumannomyces graminis

Abstract

In seven field experiments conducted over 6 years with a wide range of disease severities, triticale was intermediate in resistance to Gaeumannomyces graminis between wheat (susceptible) and rye (resistant). Use of triticale is suggested as an immediately available means of introducing take‐all resistance into cereal cultivation.Octoploid triticale was slightly more susceptible than hexaploid triticale. There was little evidence of consistent variation in resistance among wheat or rye cultivars but a few hexaploid triticale cultivars varied in resistance. The resistance of triticale was not reliably expressed in the glasshouse tests used, so selection for resistance to take‐all in a breeding programme would need to be conducted in the field. Individual pairs of rye chromosomes added to wheat did not significantly reduce its susceptibility. The feasibility of transferring the resistance of rye to wheat is considered.