Yield Loss Assessment in Bread Wheat Varieties Caused by Yellow Rust (&amp;lt;i&amp;gt;Puccinia striiformis&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt; f. sp. &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;tritici&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt;) in Arsi Highlands of South Eastern Ethiopia

Alemu Ayele,Getnet Muche

doi:10.11648/j.ajbio.20190706.14

Abstract

Wheat yellow rust disease caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici is one of the most feared and wheat production bottlenecks in the highland areas of Ethiopia. Field experiment was conducted to assess wheat yield losses caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici based at optimal frequency of fungicide with wheat varieties for the control of stripe rust at hotspot environments of Meraro and Bekoji, experimental stations in Arsi zone in 2017 main cropping season. Results revealed that there was direct linkage between the disease level and the yield loss in the most common commercially adopted bread wheat varieties. There was varying resistance level among different wheat varieties. The extensively cultivated wheat variety, Wane was found to be most resistant with minimum yield loss of 22.9 to 39.7% followed by Lemu and Danda’a with yield loss of 48.7to 56.5% and43.3 to 57.5% at Bekoji and Meraro respectively. While Kubsa, proved to be the most susceptible wheat variety with maximum yield loss of 91.5 to 96.7% at Bekoji and Meraro respectively. Therefore, it is advisable to use resistant varieties with appropriate fungicides with optimal frequency in order to reduce yield loss and get comparable yield advantage by reducing the incurring of wheat stripe rust in wheat farms.

Highlights

Stripe rust of wheat is one of the most important fungal diseases of wheat and the major production bottleneck in the major wheat producing regions of Ethiopia [1] Arsi and Bale regions of the country are the known hotspots for the epidemics of stripe rust of wheat [2] Even though there is seasonal variability in the occurrence of stripe rust in Arsi and Bale highlands, the main and long rainy season is ideal for stripe rust development [3].Yellow rust can cause yield losses of up to 58% on susceptible cultivars if infection occurs very early in the crop development stage and the disease continues to develop during the growing season [4]
Foliar fungicides were applied at different stages of a stripe rust epidemic, nil disease, trace of disease or moderate disease, on wheat cultivars which differed in susceptibility to the disease
It has been found that maximum yield loss of 2967 kg ha-1 (92%) at Bekoji and 3037 kg ha-1 (97%) at Meraro in Kubsa followed by Lemu showing 2800 kg ha-1 (43%) at Bekoji and 2791 kg ha-1 (57%) loss at Meraro, Danda’a showing 2015 kg ha-1 (49%) at Bekoji and 2120 kg ha-1 (58%) loss at Meraro, and Wane showing 1397 kg ha-1 (23%) at Bekoji and 1955 kg ha-1 (40%) loss were protected by Twice application frequency of Rex® Duo over nil fungicide application respectively

Summary

Introduction

Yellow rust can cause yield losses of up to 58% on susceptible cultivars if infection occurs very early in the crop development stage and the disease continues to develop during the growing season [4]. Grain yield loss of 71% has been recorded on susceptible bread wheat variety Wabe in Bale [5]. Foliar fungicides were applied at different stages of a stripe rust epidemic, nil disease, trace of disease or moderate disease, on wheat cultivars which differed in susceptibility to the disease. The mean area under the disease progress curve (AUPDC) of flag leaves of the susceptible cultivar was reduced by 65% and for the moderately susceptible cultivar was reduced by 41-50% after the application of the fungicides respectively [6]. The use of chemicals had helped in significantly reducing crop loss

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion