Eyespot Lesions Research Articles

An Efficient Method for Screening Rice Breeding Lines Against Races of Magnaporthe oryzae.

Rice blast, caused by Magnaporthe oryzae, is the most destructive rice disease worldwide. The disease symptoms are usually expressed on the leaf and panicle. The leaf disease intensity in controlled environmental conditions is frequently quantified using a 0 to 5 scale, where 0 represents the absence of symptoms, and 5 represents large eyespot lesions. However, this scale restricts the qualitative classification of the varieties into intermediate resistant and susceptible categories. Here, we develop a 0 to 6 scale for blast disease that allows proper assignment of rice breeding lines and varieties into six resistance levels (highly resistant, resistant, moderately resistant, moderately susceptible, susceptible, and highly susceptible). We evaluated 40 common rice varieties against four major blast races (IB1, IB17, IB49, and IE1-K). Varieties carrying the Pi-ta gene were either highly resistant, resistant, or moderately resistant to IB17. The IE1-K race was able to break Pi-ta-mediated resistance of the rice varieties. The Pi-z gene conferred resistance to the IB17 and IE1-K races. The varieties M201, Cheniere, and Frontier were highly susceptible (score 6; 100% disease) to the race IE1-K. Moreover, varieties that were resistant or susceptible to all four blast races also showed similar levels of resistance/susceptibility to blast disease in the field. Taken together, our data proved that the 0 to 6 blast scale can efficiently determine the resistance levels of rice varieties against major blast races. This robust method will assist rice breeding programs to incorporate durable resistance against major and emerging blast races.[Formula: see text] Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.

First Report of Sharp Eyespot of Oat (Avena sativa) Caused by Ceratobasidium cereale in Korea.

Along with barley and wheat, oats (Avena sativa) are cultivated as winter crops in Korea, and the total area for oat cultivation is 103 ha in 2021. From late March to early April 2021, sharp eyespot symptoms on oat (cv. Choyang) leaf sheaths and straws were observed in two commercial fields located in Haenam (N34°38'35.04588/E126°38'31.00668) and Gangjin (N34°38'9.46788/E126°37'19.44984), Jeollanam-do, Korea. The incidence was 5% and 7%, respectively. Small brown spots were irregular circles that began to appear on the lower sheaths, and the spots gradually enlarged in the upper part of the sheaths. The center of each lesion turned whitish-brown with dark brown margins, resulting in a blight of the sheaths. Three plants displaying typical sharp eyespot lesions were collected from each of two individual regions, Haenam and Gangjin. To isolate the causal pathogen, two infected tissues (5  5 mm) from the collected plants were surface-sterilized by treating them with 70% ethanol for 1 min and 1% NaClO for 1 min immediately after being treated with 95% ethanol for 1 min. Subsequently, the samples were rinsed three times with distilled water, dried with sterile filter paper, transferred to 1.5% water agar supplemented with 100 ppm streptomycin, and then incubated in the dark at 25°C. Hyphae emerging from the randomly selected three independent tissues from each location were subcultured on potato dextrose agar (PDA, Sparks, MD 21152, USA), resulting in three independent isolates (HNO-1, HNO-2, HNO-3) from Haenam and three (KJO1-1, KJO1-2, KJO1-3) from Ganjin after single-hypha-tip purification. Colonies on the PDA were pigmented white at first and subsequently changed to light brown after 2 weeks. All collected isolates formed globose and irregular dark brown to black sclerotia on PDA after 2 weeks. Binuclear hyphae were white to dark brown in color, branched at right angles with a septum near the branch, and multinucleate cells, suggesting that these isolates belonged to Ceratobasidium cereale (Boerema et al., 1977; Burpee, 1980; Sharon et al.,2008). For molecular identification, the ITS (GenBank accession nos. MW691851-53 for HNO-1 to HNO-3; MW691857-59 for KJO1-1 to KJO1-3), LSU (OQ397530-35), rpb2 (OQ409878-83), tef1 (OQ409884-89), and atp6 (OQ409890-95) regions of six isolates were amplified using the primer pairs ITS4/5 (White et al., 1990), LROR/LR5 (Vilgalys and Hester, 1990), bRPB2-6F/bRPB2-7.1R (Matheny, 2005; Reeb et al., 2004), TEF1-F/TEF1-R (Litvintseva et al., 2006), and ATP61/ATP62 (Kretzer and Bruns, 1999), respectively. The sequences of ITS region showed 99.7% identity with C. cereale strain WK137-56 (KY379365) and 99.8% with Ceratobasidium sp. AG-D (KP171639). Using the MEGA X program (Kumar et al. 2018), a maximum likelihood phylogenetic analysis based on the concatenated ITS-LSU, rpb2, tef1 and atp6 sequences placed the six isolates within a clade comprising C. cereale (Gónzalez et al.,2016; Ji et al., 2017; Tomioka et al., 2021; Li et al., 2014). Two representative isolate, HNO-1 and KJO1-1, were deposited in the Korean Agriculture Culture Collection (Accession No. KACC 49887 and 410268, respectively). For pathogenicity, the six isolates were cultured on sterilized ray grains at 25°C in the dark for 3 weeks as the inoculum. Five oat (cv. Choyang) seeds were sown per pot containing 80 g of the infected ray grains mixed with 150 g of composite soil and 150 ml of water (Baroker Garden Soil, Seoul Bio Co., LTD). The control was treated with 80 g of the sterilized ray grains mixed with 150 g of composite soil and 150 ml of water. All inoculated and control pots were placed in a 20°C growth chamber with a 12-h photoperiod and 65% humidity. Typical sharp eyespot symptoms were observed on the oat sheath of seedlings three weeks post-inoculation. No symptoms were observed in the control seedlings. The infection assays were repeated thrice, with similar results. The pathogen was successfully re-isolated, and its identity was confirmed via morphological and molecular analyses. In Korea, few etiological studies have been conducted on oats because they are less economical than barley and wheat. Sharp eyespot disease caused by C. cereale has already been reported in barley and wheat (Kim et al., 1991); however, this is the first report of this disease in oats in Korea.

Difference between isolates from brown eye spot and black spot lesions in coffee plants

Abstract: The objective of this work was to evaluate the difference between the isolates from two cercospora leaf spot symptoms (brown eye spot and black spot) in relation to conidial morphology, mycelial growth, cercosporin production, and reproduction of symptoms in coffee leaves collected in three municipalities in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. There was a difference between the isolates for the studied variables, but without any relation to the type of symptom. The differences found were not associated with the origin of the isolates. The symptoms characterized as black spot were associated with different host conditions during the infection process.

Curvularia malina sp. nov. incites a new disease of warm-season turfgrasses in the southeastern United States

A novel species of Curvularia was identified as a foliar pathogen of Cynodon dactylon (bermudagrass) and Zoysia matrella (zoysiagrass), two important warm-season turfgrasses in the southeastern United States. Field symptoms were conspicuous chocolate brown to black spots in turf of both species on golf course putting greens and fairways. Leaves of plants within these spots exhibited prominent, black eyespot lesions from which a darkly pigmented fungus was consistently isolated. The fungus produced gray- to black-olivaceous mycelium within 10 d on potato dextrose agar at 25 C but never produced conidia despite numerous attempts to induce them. Field symptoms were reproduced in inoculated plants of both grasses, and re-isolation of the pathogen from symptomatic tissues confirmed its pathogenicity in fulfillment of Koch’s postulates. A phylogenetic analysis was performed using sequence markers of internal nuclear ribosomal transcribed spacer region (ITS), glyceralde-hyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPD1) and translation elongation factor 1-α (TEF 1). The concatenated phylogenetic tree showed strong support for a new species within Curvularia that is distinctly divergent from other Curvularia spp. Therefore, the darkly pigmented pathogen of warm-season turfgrasses is described and illustrated as a new species, Curvularia malina.

Some characteristic of Rhizoctonia spp. in sharp eyespot of wheat

Isolates of <i>Rhizttctonia</i> sp. with multinucleate and binucleate cells were obtained from sharp eyespot lesions on wheat culms in Olsztyn region. (NE Poland). These isolates were compared to isolates of AG-4 and GAG-1 testers with reference to cultural morphology of colony, growth rate, hyphal anastomosis and pathogenicity to wheat seedlings. The wheat binucleate isolates were similar in morphology of colonies and anastomosed with the <i>Ceratubasidium</i> anastomosis group GAG-1 tester isolates of <i>R. cerealis</i>. Growth rates on PDA ranged from 9 to 11 mm/24h for wheat isolates and from l to 11 mm/24 h for tester isolates GAG-1 of <i>R. cerealis</i>. The wheat multinucleate isolates were similar in morphology of colonies and anastomosed with <i>Rhizoctonia solani</i> Kühn group AG-4 tester isolate. <i>R. solani</i> AG-4 isolates were morphologically distinct from the <i>R. cerealis</i> isolates. These isolates on PDA were dark and grow rapidly (20-30 mm diam./24 h/20°C) and significantly contrasted with slowly growing white-creamy isolates of <i>R. cerealis</i> (GAG-1). Isolates of <i>R. solani</i> (AG-4) and <i>R. cerealis</i> (GAG-I) developed sharp eyespot lesions on culms and white head symptoms typical of the disease. None of the wheat isolates of <i>R. cerealis</i> (GAG-I) caused root-rot on wheat seedlings. In the present work the classification system of vegetative groups of <i>Rhizoctonia</i> spp. in present work is also discussed.

Rhizoctonia cerealis anastomosis group GAG-1, the common pathogen of wheat, barley and sugar beet

Isuluies of <i>Rhizoctonia cerealis</i> anastomosis group GAG-1 were obtained from sharp eyespot lesions on wheat and on barley culms and from diseased sugar beet seedlings. Isolates of <i>R. cerealis</i> were collected from a fields with crop rotation experiments: sugar beet-spring wheat-winter barley. In pathogenicity tests isolates of <i>R. cerealis</i> from sugar beet seedlings and from sharp eyespot lesions on wheat and barley were pathogenic to these crops. Isolates of <i>R. cerealis</i> from sharp eyespot lesions on wheat and barley caused severe damping-ofTof sugar beet. Isolates of <i>R. cerealis</i> from sugar beet seedlings also caused symptoms of sharp eyespot on wheat and barley. None of the wheat and barley isolates of <i>R. cerealis</i> tested caused root-rot on wheat or barley seedlings. Isolates of <i>R. cerealis</i> obtained from diseased plants of wheat, barley and sugar beet were similar in morphology of cultures and anastomosed with GAG-1 tester isolate. The relatinoship between anastomosis. colony characters, growth rate, hyphal diameter and pathogenicity of AG-4. AG-2-2 and AG-5 isolates obtained together with <i>R. cerealis</i> from diseased plants were also investigated.

Development of Oculimacula yallundae and O. acuformis (eyespot) lesions on stems of winter wheat in relation to thermal time in the UK

Relationships between development of eyespot, caused by Oculimacula yallundae (OY) or O. acuformis (OA) on stems of winter wheat (cv. Avalon), and thermal time (°C days after sowing) were investigated in field experiments in 1985/86, 1986/87 and 1987/88 (two experiments). In all experiments, the incidence and severity of stem eyespot (uninoculated plots, OY‐ and OA‐inoculated plots) were linearly related to accumulated thermal time after sowing. There were ca. 600–800°C days from the time of the first sample when eyespot lesions were recorded on stems to the time when maximum eyespot incidence or severity was recorded. Relationships between stem eyespot incidence or severity and thermal time differed between seasons, with more severe eyespot in 1986/87 and 1987/88 than 1985/86. Both the severity and volume of stem lesions were initially greater in OY‐inoculated plots than OA‐inoculated plots in spring but differences were less by harvest in all seasons. The percentage of plants with stems colonized by OY or OA over all plots (including uninoculated) showed a consistent pattern in 1986/87 and 1987/88 (two experiments), with the percentage colonized by OY greater initially and the percentage colonized by OA gradually increasing with time towards harvest.

Effect of eyespot caused by Oculimacula yallundae and O. acuformis, assessed visually and by competitive PCR, on stem strength associated with lodging resistance and yield of winter wheat

Winter wheat, (cv. Consort) was inoculated with three isolates of either Oculimacula yallundae or O. acuformis to determine the effect of eyespot caused by each species on yield and lodging resistance of winter wheat. Plants were visually assessed for disease incidence and severity, and pathogen DNA was quantified at GS 33 and GS 60. At early milk development of the crop (GS 72), 900 main shoots were also visually assessed for the disease and subjected to mechanical tests for stem strength. Pathogen DNA was extracted from each shoot and quantified using competitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Although slight and moderate eyespot lesions caused by either species had no effect on ear weight, severe lesions caused by O. acuformis and O. yallundae reduced ear weight by 3% and 7%, respectively. Stem lodging failed to occur at the site; however, yield losses of 11% for O. acuformis and 6% for O. yallundae were observed. Visual assessment failed to reveal differences between species in their effect on plant characteristics, stem bending strength, or stem safety factor. PCR data, however, showed that the two species had similar effects determined by different DNA concentrations. Both species reduced lodging resistance (stem safety factor) compared with the control. In contrast to healthy plants, where reductions were related predominantly to the height and weight distribution of the plants, the observed reductions of stem lodging resistance in infected plants with Oculimacula spp. were associated primarily with reductions in stem bending strength.

First report of apothecia of Tapesia yallundae occurring on the wild grass Holcus lanatus (Yorkshire Fog) in New Zealand

Tapesia yallundae is a causal agent of eyespot, a damaging stem base disease of cereal crops. The pathogen has also been detected on many wild and cultivated grasses even if characteristic eyespot symptoms are not visible (Lucas et al ., 2000). The pathogen exhibits a heterothallic mating system and apothecia of the sexual stage have been detected on straw stubble in many European countries, Australasia, southern Africa and North America (Dyer et al ., 2001). During field studies in New Zealand in 1995, apothecia resembling those of T. yallundae were discovered on decaying stem bases of Holcus lanatus (Yorkshire Fog) at the margin of one wheat field near Carterton, Wairarapa, North Island. To verify that apothecia were indeed T. yallundae , ascospore discharge was induced and single ascospore cultures established. Resultant colonies were confirmed as T. yallundae on the basis of conidia and colony morphology, and growth rate (2·3 ± 0·1 mm day − 1 ) on potato dextrose agar (Dyer et al ., 1996). Isolates from H. lanatus also produced a 1·05-kb PCR product characteristic of T. yallundae following amplification with the speciesspecific primers Ty 16F and Ty 16R (Nicholson et al ., 1997). No product was obtained with primers specific to the closely related species T. acuformis . Furthermore, amplification with RAPD primer OPA-10 resulted in the production of 0·68and 1·32-kb bands, again characteristic of T. yallundae (Dyer et al ., 1996). Finally, inoculation of wheat seedlings (cv. Avalon) with conidial suspensions resulted in production of characteristic eyespot lesions. This represents the first report of apothecia of T. yallundae occurring on H. lanatus and the first evidence of infection of H. lanatus by T. yallundae . The sexual stage of T. yallundae has also been detected on the wild grasses Bromus diandrus and Hordeum leporinum (barley grass) (Wallwork, 1987). Should the sexual cycle occur regularly on wild grasses then these species may provide an important reservoir of eyespot disease able to infect nearby cereal crops as a result of the dispersal of airborne ascospores. This problem may be exacerbated by the recent establishment of grassy islands (‘beetle banks’) as wildlife refuges in UK crops.

Evidence for a heterothallic mating system in Tapesia acuformis using benomyl sensitivity and esterase isoenzyme profiles

Ascospore progenies from eight apothecia of Tapesia sp., collected from wheat stubble in Belgium and Germany, yielded strains characteristic of T. acuformis and strains characteristic of T. yallundae. The colony and conidium morphology, esterase isoenzyme profiles and sensitivity to benomyl, diethofencarb and triadimenol of these and of isolates from eyespot lesions were compared. Differences were detected amongst the ascospore offspring from single apothecia using these markers, but all strains from a single apothecium were always of a single species of Tapesia. Single-ascospore strains from a single ascus could always be grouped into four pairs using a combination of markers. In vitro pairwise crossings between four representative single-ascospore strains of T. acuformis yielded some mature and fertile apothecia on moist wheat straw inoculated with mycelium and incubated in test tubes under a mixture of nuv light and daylight at 8-12 degrees C for at least 6 months. Recombination was observed between the parental esterase zymograms and sensitivities to benomyl, leading to new phenotypes in the progeny. The results of pairing reference single-ascospore strains of both T. acuformis and T. yallundae with 115 isolates from eyespot lesions strengthened the contention that T. acuformis exhibits a two-allele heterothallism and that T. acuformis and T. yallundae are sexually incompatible species.

Diversité morphologique en culture, sensibilité au carbendazime et pouvoir pathogène du Tapesia yallundae (anamorphe : Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides)

Three types of colonies (WH, WA, and RA) have been characterized among 2245 isolates of Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides on the basis of colony growth rate and appearance (W, rapid growth and regular margin; R, slow growth and irregular margin) and of the shape of the majority of conidia (H, coiled; A, straight). Apothecia of Tapesia yallundae (anamorph : P. herpotrichoides) were produced on naturally infected stems of winter wheat and barley. Apothecia of an undetermined discomycete were occasionally observed. The progeny of more than 1700 ascospores from 72 apothecia of T. yallundae was distributed among the three types of colonies. These types remained stable through successive conidial and mycelial subcultures. All three colony types were sometimes obtained from a single apothecium. WH and WA were the most common, while RH was never observed. WA isolates were more often resistant than WH isolates to carbendazim. Inoculations of wheat and barley stems with ascospores of T. yallundae were unsuccessful, while inoculations with conidia or mycelium resulted in eyespot lesions. During equivalent periods, RA isolates were less virulent than WH and WA. Key words: cereals, eyespot, Deuteromycetes, sexual stage, Hordeum vulgare, Triticum aestivum.

Surveys of stem base diseases and fusarium ear diseases in winter wheat in England, Wales and Scotland, 1989–1990

SummaryAn investigation into the incidence of stem base diseases and the pathogens associated with them was undertaken on winter wheat samples collected at growth stages 31 and 73–75 in 1989 and 1990. Symptoms at growth stage 31 were classified into 10 different types based on visual characteristics. Although Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides was associated mainly with eyespot lesions and Rhizoctonia spp. with sharp eyespot lesions, a significant number of isolates of each pathogen were taken from lesions classified as fusarium. Different types of fusarium lesion on stem bases at both growth stages were not associated with any one particular Fusarium or Microdochium species. 98% of P. herpotrichoides isolates obtained from eyespot lesions at growth stage 31 in 1989, and 87% of those obtained in 1990 were identified as the sub‐species P. herpotrichoides var. acuformis, Microdochium nivale was more common than any of the Fusarium species at both growth stages, and was particularly prevalent in samples from Scotland at the earlier growth stage in 1989. Isolations from the top internodes at growth stage 73–75 indicated that systemic infection by Fusarium species, although present in some stems, was of little importance. Fusarium ear blight affected 0.4% of ears in 1989 and 0.5% in 1990. Glume spot lesions on the ears in 1990 were predominantly associated with Fusarium poae.

Evaluation of fungicides for control of eyespot disease and yield loss nationships in winter wheat

Following the discovery of resistance to benzimidazole fungicides in the cereal eyespot pathogen Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides in the UK in 1981, and an initial in vitro screen to select the fungicides with greatest activity against the pathogen, 40 field experiments were carried out between 1983 and 1986 to evaluate alternative fungicides for control of eyespot. At the majority of experimental sites, benomyl‐resistant strains of the pathogen were present, and carbendazim did not control eyespot. Prochloraz was the most effective fungicide, reducing the eyespot index by 30–60%. There was no extra benefit from adding carbendazim to prochloraz. Flusilazole was almost as effective as prochloraz, but other fungicides had little or no effect. At sites with a high incidence of eyespot, prochloraz, with or without the addition of carbendazim, generally gave the largest yield increase. The mean yield increases each year were in the range 0·36–0·85 t/ha, and the greatest yield increase at any site was 2·27 t/ha. Most other fungicides increased yield, but carbendazim did not from 1984 to 1986. There were also yield increases at many sites with a low incidence of eyespot. Yield increases were associated with increases in thousand‐grain weight at the majority of sites, but in only a few instances were there associated increases in specific weight. Prochloraz application at GS30‐31 was cost effective at 71% of sites. At most sites, in regression of yield on eyespot, eyespot accounted for less than 25% of the variance in yield. The mean relationship between severe eyespot lesions and yield loss was such that each 1% increase in the percentage of tillers affected by severe eyespot was associated with a yield loss of 0·21 %. There was a significant positive correlation between eyespot at GS75 and GS30‐31, and between yield increase from prochloraz treatment (at GS30‐31) and eyespot at GS75, but not between yield increase and eyespot at GS30‐31. The ADAS threshold for fungicide application of 20% tillers affected at GS30‐31 was a reliable indicator of the cost‐effectiveness of treatment at 60% of sites.

Effects of rotation, stubble retention and cultivation on take-all and eyespot of wheat in northeastern Victoria, Australia

The effects of different rotations and methods of seed-bed preparation on take-all ( Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici) ( Ggt) and eyespot ( Tapesia yallundae; anomorph Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides) of wheat ( Triticum aestivum) were investigated in 1984–1986 in a long-term field experiment (established in 1981), on a fine sandy-clay loam in northeastern Victoria. One treatment, representing the conventional practice, involved burning stubble from the preceding crop followed by four passes with a scarifier in the autumn before sowing wheat each year. Other treatments were direct drilled each year (sown without prior cultivation) and included two stubble treatments (retained or burnt) in either continuously cropped wheat or in lupin ( Lupinus angustifolius)-wheat rotations. High levels of take-all and eyespot developed in the continuously cropped wheat (up to 79% and 66% plants affected, respectively). On the other hand, the incidence of plants with either disease was very low or negligible in wheat that was preceded by lupins. In continuous wheat the incidence of plants with Ggt lesions were up to two times higher in the conventionally cultivated treatment (14% 74% and 79% plants affected in 1984, 1985 and 1986, respectively) than in direct drilled treatment (5%, 36% and 39% plants affected, respectively). Generally, the incidence of plants with Ggt lesions and the severity of root symptoms in direct drilled wheat did not differ significantly between the two stubble treatments. The incidence of eyespot in direct drilled wheat was exacerbated by the retention of wheat stubble on the uncultivated plots (3%, 46% and 66% plants affected in 1984, 1985, and 1986, respectively) but was reduced by burning the stubble (4%, 19% and 33% plants affected in 1984, 1985, 1986, respectively). However, cultivating soil after burning stubble resulted in more plants with eyespot (14%, 39% and 46% plants affected in 1984, 1985 and 1986, respectively) than did burning stubble alone, and in one year the incidence of affected plants in the cultivated treatment was as high as in wheat direct drilled into stubble. The incidence of eyespot was positively correlated ( r=0.85, 0.84 and 0.61 in 1984, 1985 and 1986, respectively) with the incidence of lodged tillers. The incidence of lodging was, generally, highest each year in wheat sown directly into wheat stubble and was reduced by burning wheat stubble or by cropping wheat after lupins. Wojnowicia graminis was frequently isolated, as was Tapesia yallundae, from eyespot lesions suggesting that perhaps not all symptoms of lodging in Victoria can be attributed to Tapesia yallundae.

The Development of Eyespot on Seedling Leaf Sheaths in Winter Wheat and Winter Barley Crops Inoculated with W‐type or R‐type Isolates of Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides

AbstractIn 1986–88 the development of eyespot lesions in winter wheat or winter barley differed plots inoculated with W‐type isolates of Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides and plots inoculated with R‐type isolates. In the spring of 1986, after a cold winter, the incidence (%shoots infected) and severity (number of leaf sheaths penetrated) of eyespot lesions in wheat before GS 30/31 were greater in plots inoculated with R‐type isolates than in those inoculated with W‐type isolates. In 1987, after amild winter, eyespot incidence and severity in both wheat and barley were initially greater in W‐type plots than in R‐type plots. However, by GS 30/31 or 1987. In 1988, when the crop was October‐sown, eyespot incidence and severity were greater in W‐type than in R‐type plots at GS 30/31. Differences in eyespot incidence and severity between W‐type and R‐type plots were smaller in barley than in wheat. Both the incidence and severity of eyespot were greater in early‐sown than in late‐sown plots. Seed rate, had little effect on the rate of lesion development in 1987, but in 1988 the rate of penetration was less at the low seed rate for both wheat and barley.

Effects of fungicide timing on the severity of eyespot on winter wheat or winter barley inoculated with W-type or R-type isolates of Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides

Plots of winter wheat or winter barley inoculated with W-type or R-type isolates of Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides were sprayed with carbendazim plus prochloraz either at growth stage (GS) 30/31, or at GS 33/39 (wheat) or at GS 51 (barley). At GS 30/31 > 75% of the shoots of both wheat and barley had eyespot lesions in 1986 and 1987 and there were, on average, < 2 leaf sheaths left to penetrate before the fungus reached the stem. In 1988, the incidence of eyespot was 10–50% at GS 30/31 and there were three leaf sheaths left to penetrate. Spray treatments generally reduced the severity of eyespot lesions on stems at GS 83 in both W-type and R-type plots of wheat and barley. The early spray treatment (GS 30/31) generally controlled eyespot better than the late treatment in both W-type and R-type plots. Spray treatments often increased yield, but differences in yield responses were not clearly related to differences in control of eyespot.

Damping‐off of sugar beet caused by Rhizoctonia cerealis

Rhizoctonia cerealis was isolated from diseased sugar beet seedlings collected from crops in Ireland. In pathogenicity tests, isolates of R. cerealis from beet seedlings, and from sharp eyespot lesions on wheat crops, caused severe damping‐off of sugar beet. Isolates from beet seedlings also caused symptoms of sharp eyespot on wheat.

Increases in wheat yield on limed soil after reduction of take-all by fungicide application and crop rotation

The severity of take-all, caused by Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici, was measured with lime, rotation and flutriafol treatments in a long-term field experiment. The incidence of eyespot lesions caused by Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides was also measured. Flutriafol reduced the number of plants with deadheads or no heads and resulted in 12-60% more grain yield. However flutriafol had no effect on the number of plants with eyespot lesions. The number of plants with deadheads or no heads was highest (50-53%) on the wheat which was a third consecutive crop and on soil which had been amended with 2.5 and 5.0 t/ha lime. Sowing wheat after a subterranean clover based pasture considerably reduced the number of deadheads. Control of annual grasses in the pasture by spray-topping further reduced deadheads and with this treatment and at nil and low lime there were 2-7% deadheads. The percentage of plants with eyespot lesions was higher with the continuous cropped wheat. Lime increased grain yield only where the disease incidence was low but had no effect on the percentage of eyespot lesions. This work demonstrates the importance of crop rotation for disease control, particularly where soils are limed to amend severe soil acidity; the value of controlling annual grasses in pasture in the year preceding wheat cropping; and the potential of fungicide treatment as a practical means for controlling take-all in field grown wheat.

Pseudocercosporella anguioides, a weakly pathogenic fungus associated with eyespot in winter wheat at a site in England

Pseudocercosporella anguioides is reported for the first time from Britain. Isolates were made from the leaf sheaths of four plants of a sample of 2716 with suspected eyespot lesions taken in April 1986 from a winter wheat crop. The eyespot pathogen, P. herpotrichoides, was isolated from 724 plants in the same sample. P. anguioides was not found in a sample of eyespot‐infected straws taken from the same crop in July 1986. In infection tests, the P. anguioides isolates produced no obvious lesions on the leaf sheaths of wheat seedlings grown in pots, but were sometimes reisolated from symptomless leaf sheaths. Although P. anguioides occurred infrequently, care is needed to distinguish it from P. herpotrichoides when monitoring the eyespot pathogen.

Characterization of wheat eyespot populations before development of fungicide resistance

Two methods were compared for monitoring the sensitivity of eyespot (Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides) from wheat fields to MBC-type fungicides. Resistant isolates were detected by their growth on agar containing 1 μg/ml carbendazim; the use of mycelium or conidia gave similar results. From wheat fields which had never received MBC, 1–4 % of eyespot lesions yielded resistant isolates, whereas 65 % of lesions were resistant where these fungicides had been used. Resistant and sensitive isolates were equally pathogenic and both were inhibited by prochloraz. Only carbendazim resistant isolates were sensitive to methyl N-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-carbamate.