SummarySamples from 300 – 400 randomly selected winter wheat crops were taken annually at growth stage 73 – 75 from 1976 to 1988 with the exception of 1983 and 1984. The number of samples from each region was proportional to the area of wheat grown in each region. The percentage of the area of the top two leaves affected by diseases, the severity of ear and stem base diseases and, in 6 years, the severity of take‐all were recorded. Septoria tritici and Septoria nodorum were, on average, the most severe of the foliar diseases and eyespot (Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides) was the most severe of the stem base diseases. Regional differences in levels of S. tritici, brown rust, sharp eyespot and nodal fusarium were significant. Cultivar resistance affected disease severity, and previous cropping patterns particularly affected take‐all and eyespot. Eyespot and sharp eyespot were less severe in late‐ than in early‐sown crops. The percentage of crops treated with a fungicidal spray increased from 14% in 1976 to over 90% between 1983 and 1985. Use of benzimidazole fungicides applied at growth stage 31 declined, while use of morpholines from flag leaf emergence onwards increased between 1985 and 1988.

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An 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 Pseudocercosporelia 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 1esion.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.

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