The use of digital image analysis and real‐time PCR fine‐tunes bioassays for quantification of Cercospora leaf spot disease in sugar beet breeding

Cercospora leaf spot, caused by the fungus Cercospora beticola, is a major fungal sugar beet disease worldwide and the cause of significant yield losses. The disease is most successfully countered by the introduction of genetic tolerance into elite sugar beet hybrids. To this end, breeding programmes require high quality biological assays allowing discrimination of minor differences between plants within a segregating population. This study describes the successful implementation of image analysis software in the bioassays for quantification of necrotic lesions at different stages of C. beticola infection, allowing selection on minor phenotypic differences during the sugar beet breeding process for C. beticola resistance. In addition, a real‐time PCR assay was developed for the quantification of C. beticola pathogen biomass in infected beet canopy. The use of both techniques, even in an early stage of infection, fine‐tunes current bioassays, allowing more accurate and efficient selection of resistant breeding material.     

基于病菌孢子捕捉和real-time PCR技术的田间空气中小麦白粉病菌孢子动态监测及病情估计模型研究

利用Burkard定容式孢子捕捉器结合real-time PCR定量技术,分别对种植高抗、中感和高感白粉病小麦品种的田间空气中白粉病菌分生孢子浓度进行监测,结果表明,real-time PCR定量与传统的显微观察计数两种方法测得的孢子浓度呈显著正相关(P≤0.01),且两种病菌孢子计数方法在同一抗性品种上监测到的孢子浓度动态相近。此外,两种方法测得的孢子浓度与各气象因子的相关性分析结果一致,空气中的白粉病菌孢子浓度主要与空气相对湿度显著正相关。在此基础上,利用两种方法测定的田间空气中白粉病菌孢子浓度分别建立了基于累积孢子浓度的田间病情估计模型。分析发现,基于两种孢子浓度测定方法建立的病情估计模型间无显著性差异,表明real-time PCR定量技术测定的孢子浓度在构建白粉病病情估计模型上具有一定可行性。该结果为real-time PCR定量技术与病菌孢子捕捉技术相结合用于小麦白粉病的监测和预测提供理论依据。     

利用移动式孢子捕捉器捕获的孢子量估计小麦白粉病田间病情

 Experiments were conducted by using RAM Air Sampler for Use with Moving Vehicle to estimate field disease severity of wheat powdery mildew during 2002-2005. Results showed that there was significant correlation between field disease index and trapped spore number. Therefore, two models relating field disease index to spore number trapped were constructed using data from 2002 and 2005, or 2003 and 2004, respectively. These two models can be used to estimate field disease indexes of wheat powdery mildew in different years when disease severity is different.     

Spatial pattern of Cercospora leaf spot of sugar beet in fields in long- and recently-established areas

Spatial disease pattern of Cercospora beticola was characterised during natural epidemics of Cercospora leaf spot (CLS) in sugar beet. We applied linear regression and geostatistical analyses to characterise CLS spatial patterns in three field trials, in long-established and recently-established CLS-areas, during two consecutive years. Linear regression showed a positive influence of average disease severity of within-row neighbouring plants (0.38 < < 0.88). Semi-variograms modelled the spatial dependence of disease severity for two directions per week in both years. Disease severity displayed strong spatial dependence over time. The within-row spatial dependence was the largest, but across-row dependence was irregular and weaker. Both long- and recently established areas showed strong spatial dependence of disease severity within row, decrease in variability between years and within the second trial year and a relation between and the relative nugget. Observed differences were more field than area specific. These spatial and temporal analyses indicated that disease severities of adjacent plants were dependent; hence, we concluded that C. beticola is dispersed mainly over short distances from plant to plant.     

Root infection of sugar beet by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cercospora beticola</Emphasis> in a climate chamber and in the field

Sugar beet root infection by Cercospora beticola, the causal agent of Cercospora leaf spot (CLS), was studied in a climate chamber and in the field. In the climate chamber, root incubation of susceptible seedlings with a conidial suspension resulted in disease incidences that were significantly different for two sugar beet cultivars (Auris: 0.8 ± 0.14 and A00170: 0.5 ± 0.18; P < 0.05) with regard to the control treatment 35 days after root incubation in a standard potting soil-fine river sand mixture. In a field trial with susceptible cv. Savannah with soil-incorporated CLS-infested leaf material, disease developed four weeks earlier in the infested plots than in the control plots. The probability that disease develops in the field was significantly higher for the infested than for the control plots (P < 0.05). Symptomless plants from infested field plots transferred to the glasshouse to induce leaf spot symptoms showed a significantly higher probability to induce symptom development (0.4 ± 0.08), than plants from control plots (0.02 ± 0.02) (P <0.05) 14 days after transfer. This probability was significantly higher than for plants that remained in three of the infested field plots (0.2 ± 0.04; 0.2 ± 0.05 and 0.2 ± 0.04 respectively), except for one infested field plot (0.4 ± 0.05) on July 5. We conclude that C. beticola is able to infect sugar beet seedlings through their roots and that latent CLS infections in sugar beet lead to symptom development at high temperatures (> 20 °C) and high relative humidity (> 95) in our climate chamber or after canopy closure in the field. Quantification of root infection and long term survival in soil is necessary to assess its contribution to the epidemiology and life cycle of Cercospora beticola. Cultural methods such as a wider crop rotation, management of crop debris and ploughing systems may provide control strategies alternative to or reducing fungicide input.     

小麦白粉病菌分生孢子田间传播的初步研究

2015年度采用定容式孢子捕捉器对田间空气中小麦白粉病菌分生孢子传播的初步研究表明,在病害发生初期病菌分生孢子捕捉量比较低,但随着菌源中心病害的逐渐加重,病菌分生孢子在距菌源中心20 m和40 m远处捕捉量随之增大。线性弧度相关分析结果发现,距菌源中心北向20 m和40 m处的孢子捕捉量与风向存在显著正相关性;距菌源中心不同距离处的孢子捕捉量之间均存在极显著正相关性,且在相同方向上,距菌源中心20 m处孢子捕捉量显著高于40 m处孢子捕捉量。     

基于田间空气中病菌孢子浓度的小麦白粉病病情估计模型研究

2014和2015两年度利用Burkard定容式孢子捕捉器监测了高感小麦白粉病品种京双16种植区和中感品种众麦2号种植区田间空气中的病菌孢子浓度变化动态,同时利用小型气象站监测了田间的气象因子,通过分析京双16和众麦2号种植区空气中孢子浓度与空气温度、湿度、降雨、风速和太阳辐射率的相关性,发现空气中的孢子浓度主要与空气温度呈显著的正相关性(r0.348 3,P0.05)。在此基础上,分别分析了田间病情与调查日期前累积孢子浓度、一周前累积孢子浓度、前一周累积孢子浓度和当周累积孢子浓度的关系,结果表明,中感品种众麦2号田间病情与累积孢子浓度的关系均呈指数关系,其中田间病情与调查日期前累积孢子浓度或一周前累积孢子浓度的拟合效果最好,而感病品种京双16的田间病情与累积孢子浓度多呈对数关系,其中病情指数与一周前累积孢子浓度的拟合效果最好。     

Suppression of clubroot disease under neutral pH caused by inhibition of spore germination of Plasmodiophora brassicae in the rhizosphere

To elucidate the mechanism of clubroot suppression under neutral soil pH, a highly reproducible germination assay system under soil culture conditions was designed based on the hypothesis that germinated spores of Plasmodiophora brassicae could be identified by the absence of a nucleus (i.e. having released a zoospore to infect a root hair of the host plant). Brassica rapa var. perviridis seedlings were inoculated with a spore suspension of P. brassicae at a rate of 2·0 × 10⁶ spores g⁻¹ soil and grown in a growth chamber for 7 days. The spores were recovered from rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils and stained with both Fluorescent Brightener 28 (cell-wall-specific) and SYTO 82 orange fluorescent nucleic-acid stain (nucleus-specific stain). Total numbers of spores were counted under UV-excitation, and spores with a nucleus that fluoresced orange under G-excitation were counted. The significant increase in the percentage of spores without a nucleus (germinated spores) in the rhizosphere after 7 days' cultivation and the correlation with root-hair infections validated the assay system. Applications of calcium-rich compost or calcium carbonate to neutralize the soil significantly reduced the percentage of germinated spores in the rhizosphere, as well as the number of root-hair infections. The present study provides direct evidence that the inhibition of spore germination is the primary cause of disease suppression under neutral soil pH.