Evidence of durable resistance in nine Chinese land races and one Italian cultivar ofTriticum aestivum toPuccinia striiformis

In this study carried out from 1987 to 1994, in a very conducive environment to stripe rust, nine Chinese land races and one Italian cultivar of wheat showed fair levels of quantitative resistance to rust disease. The nine old Chinese cultivars had a commercial planting history in this conducive environment ranging from 20 to 100 years, in a cultivation area of 20 to 467 thousand hectares p.a. with no apparent erosion of resistance. The Italian cultivar has been used commercially for 15 years in China without showing a decrease in the level of quantitative resistance. All these data warrant the conclusion that the ten cultivars have a form of durable resistance to stripe rust.