An artificial inoculation protocol for Uromycladium acaciae,cause of a serious disease of Acacia mearnsii in southern Africa |
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| Authors: | Stuart Fraser Alistair R McTaggart Julian Moreno Chan Thobile Nxumalo Louise S Shuey Michael J Wingfield |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Tree Protection Co-operative Programme, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa;2. Current address: Forest Protection, Scion, Rotorua, New Zealand;3. Institute for Commercial Forestry Research, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa;4. Department of Genetics, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa |
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| Abstract: | Uromycladium acaciae is the cause of a severe wattle rust epidemic in plantations of Acacia mearnsii (black wattle) in southern Africa. Research on the biology of this damaging rust is assisting in the development of control strategies. One strategy under investigation is the identification and deployment of resistant lines of A. mearnsii. Selection of resistant families currently relies on large-scale, time-consuming and expensive field trials. In this study, we present a detailed artificial inoculation protocol for U. acaciae, which can be used to screen for resistance. The results of an experiment that used the protocol to screen the relative resistance of 12 families of A. mearnsii to U. acaciae are also presented. The developed artificial inoculation protocol can also be used to investigate several other aspects of this host–pathogen system. |
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| Keywords: | breeding fungi phenotype trait selection relative resistance relative susceptibility resistance screening |
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