The effect of alien translocations on winter wheat resistance to Tilletia tritici (DC.) Tul.

Abstract

Alien translocations in wheat have been exhaustively investigated relative to various diseases, except for common bunt. During the period 2005–2006, an experiment was carried out at the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture (LIA) in an artificially inoculated nursery. The test cultivars represented the latest Western European winter wheat genotypes. The total mean winter wheat infection in the common bunt nursery was 80.9% and the mean for the selected 36 cultivars 76.2%. The high infection level enabled us to screen the cultivars for the level of partial resistance. Of the selected 36 cultivars with or without various alien translocations, only ‘Quebon’ was found to be resistant. The least infected cultivars ‘Tommi’ and ‘Bill’, can be classified as medium susceptible – 15.0% and 17.2%, respectively. The rest of the cultivars were very susceptible, the mean infection level ranging from 53.5% to 98.8%. Cultivars with Aegilops ventricosa translocation were the least infected of the selected genotypes. The mean infection of eight cultivars was 74.9%, and the mean for the rest of the cultivars was 81.2%. As a result, this translocation could additionally possess some barely effective genes of partial resistance. Complex translocation from Secale cereale did not possess effective partial resistance. The mean infection of cultivars with other translocations was not really different from that of the selected cultivars. Cultivars with translocation from A. tauschii were infected more than the mean 87.4%, whereas cultivars with translocation from Triticum dicoccum were infected less than the mean 75.4%. Keywords: alien translocations, winter wheat, resistance, common bunt