RESISTANCE SOURCES OF WHEAT GENOTYPES FOR ROOT AND CROWN ROT DISEASE CAUSAL ORGANISM Fusarium culmorum (W.G. SMITH)

Abstract

Fusarium culmorum is a soil-borne fungus able to cause crown and root rot on different small-grain cereals, particularly in wheat and barley. For controlling such diseases, application of fungicides is inadequate in some cases besides their hazardous effects for environment and living organisms. As an alternative solution to chemicals, development and screening the resistant wheat genotypes has been emphasis in the recent plant defense studies. In the present study, totally 90 bread wheat genotypes developed for rainfed area were included in the experiment to be evaluated for resistance to F. culmorum in controlled conditions. The experiment was set up according to randomized complete block design with 4 replications for each entry. The wheat seeds were sown in the soil contaminated with F. culmorum, for control the seeds were sown in uncontaminated soil. The plants were kept in plant growth chamber at 23±2°C and 80% humidity for 8 weeks. The resistance levels of genotypes to F. culmorum were determined considering the 0-10 scale. The plant genotypes based on scale values were divided into 3 groups that were susceptible (≥3 scale value), moderately resistant (scale values between 1-3), and resistant (≤1 scale value). As a result, 2 genotypes were grouped as resistant, while 11 of genotypes were moderately resistant against F. culmorum. The rest of genotypes were taken to susceptible group with scale values above 3.