Spot blotch (Bipolaris sorokiniana) in wheat is considered as one of the most important diseases in warmer areas of the world, particularly in humid South Asia. Number of lesion cm−2 leaf area, as an attribute of disease severity, was observed to be significantly influenced by temperature and duration of high relative humidity 95% or above (RH-duration). Temperature and RH-duration response of spot blotch infection index were explained based on the established infection models. Temperature response was a typically unimodal bell-shaped curve with minimum, optimum and maximum temperatures of 16°, 29° and 36°C respectively. Response of RH-duration was sigmoid asymptotic, characterized by a monotonic increase in infection index with the increase of RH-duration. Requirement of RH-duration for infection decreased with increase in temperature up to 29°C and increased afterwards till 34°C. Minimum RH-duration (m) requirement was estimated at 9 h after which lesions could be seen. The fitted equations were used to produce a surface response for temperature (T) and RH-duration (D) to explain variation in daily infection index (Y) and proposed as a model: Y = [(36-T)/7]*[(T-16)/13]1.8571*[1-(0.8114) D-m ]. During active vegetative to early reproductive phase, occurrence of favourable threshold (temperature above 16°C and RH-duration above 9 h) and accumulation of daily infection index about 1.2 was noted to match symptom appearance under field conditions. The infection model developed could be used to decide action thresholds for evolving management strategies.
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