Genetic analysis of resistance to Puccinia striiformis in the wheat differential cultivars Heines VII, Heines Peko and Strubes Dickkopf

One major gene for resistance to isolate WYR 85-22 of race 6E0 of Puccinia striiformis was identified by genetic analysis of the differential cultivars Heines Peko, Strubes Dickkopf and Heines VII. This gene was different from Yr2 Yr6 already identified in Heines Peko ( Yr2 Yr6 ) and Heines VII ( Yr2 ), was allelic in the three cultivars and also to a gene expressed in the other differentials Reichersberg 42 ( Yr7 ) and Clement ( Yr9 ). In Heines Peko, Strubes Dickkopf and Heines VII, a minor gene was also postulated, which, it is proposed, gave only a low level of resistance by itself but strengthened the expression of the major gene when the latter was homozygous or heterozygous. The genetics of the resistance was analysed using six resistance classes and applying multidimensional analyses. The number of resistance genes was hypothesized using data from F3 families from crosses between the three differentials and the cultivar Heines Kolben, which is susceptible to this race.     

Analytical models of weed biocontrol with sterilizing fungi: the consequences of differences in weed and pathogen life-histories

A model of the population dynamics of healthy weed plants, weed seeds in the soil, pathogen-infected weed plants and pathogen spores in the soil, was devised to investigate interactions that are important for the success of biocontrol with pathogens that prevent seed set. Three particular features of the host-pathogen interaction were examined in detail: the form of the density dependent relationship which determined seed and spore production, the host life stage at which infection could occur, and the relative competitive abilities of healthy and infected host plants. It was found that, when both weed and pathogen coexist, the equilibrium abundance of the weed in the presence of the pathogen was independent of the form of the relationship between plant density and seed or spore production. However, the form of this relationship did affect estimated equilibrium densities in the absence of biocontrol, and also affected the parametrizations under which both host and pathogen could coexist. Parameters derived from experiments with isolated host plants may therefore be sufficient to assess the biocontrol potential of new pathogens along with knowledge of densities achievable when the weed is uncontrolled. The form of the relationship used to control seed and spore production also had a marked influence on the range of parameter values over which the pathogen could persist. Other control measures were represented by changes to appropriate parameter values, e.g. weeding was represented by a change in weed death rate. With one exception, the use of additional control measures was not antagonistic to biocontrol. Often, however, the combined effect was less than additive, and the existence of synergy (where the combined effects are more than additive) was critically dependent on the form of the relationship of the rate of seed production per plant with density and the efficiency of the other control measures.     

Development of a powder formulation of Pseudomonas fluorescens for control of rice blast

Pseudomonas fluorescens strain Pf1, inhibitory to the growth of the rice blast pathogen Pyricularia oryzae in vitro , was developed as a talc-based powder formulation. When rice seeds were treated with this formulation, the bacteria spread to roots, stems and leaves of the plants and protected against leaf infection by P. oryzae . When applied as a foliar spray, the bacteria survived on the leaves. The powder formulation controlled leaf blast under greenhouse conditions. In tests as a seed treatment and foliar spray in four field trials it effectively controlled the disease and increased grain yield.     

The effect of solar heating of soil on natural and inoculated agrobacteria

Solarization trials were carried out over 3 years and in two countries to control crown gall disease on fruit trees and eliminate Agrobacterium . In 1992, agrobacteria in naturally infested soils of two Italian nurseries were monitored before and after solarization. Agrobacteria populations decreased by 99% and 92% after the treatment; however, crown gall incidence did not decrease. In 1993 and 1994 solarization was tested in Oregon in fields artificially infested with two marked strains of A. tumefaciens . In sandy loam soil, the target bacteria were eliminated in 4 weeks, while in silty clay soil the populations were markedly reduced after 2 months of treatment. Crown gall incidence on cherry rootstocks transplanted to the field at the end of 1993 was 3.7% in the sandy loam soil control plots, while no tumours were observed on plants from solarized plots. The use of solarization in combination with reduced doses of metham-sodium was also evaluated.     

Short-distance wind dispersal of the fungal pathogens causing Sigatoka diseases in banana and plantain

Airborne spores of the fungal pathogens causing Sigatoka diseases in banana and plantain were monitored using rotorod spore traps, sited at various heights within an infected plantation in Costa Rica from December 1993 to February 1994. Different capture patterns of ascospores and conidia were found and the relationship between wind behaviour and spore catches was investigated. This information has enabled an assessment to be made of the reliability of point measurements of airborne spores for monitoring spore movements on the plantation scale. The use of such information in forecasting the airborne movement of these spores and the likely role of the wind in the spread of this disease to uninfected areas is discussed.     

A model of plant virus disease epidemics in asynchronously-planted cropping systems

A mathematical model was developed of the dynamics of a plant virus disease within a spatially-referenced lattice of fields of a host crop. The model can be applied to crops in continuous, contiguous cultivation such as tropical irrigated rice. Disease progress in each field of the host crop was assumed to be logistic and determined by incidence within the field itself as well as incidence in neighbouring fields, depending on the gradient of disease spread. The frequency distribution of planting dates (represented by the proportion of the total number of fields planted in successive months) was assumed to follow a normal distribution and the variance of planting date was used as a measure of cropping asynchrony. Analysis of the model revealed that disease incidence within the lattice (i.e. mean incidence over all fields) depended upon the infection efficiency, the slope of the dispersal gradient, and the variance in planting date. Disease endemicity depended mainly on planting date variance and disease persisted in the lattice if this variance exceeded a certain threshold. Above the threshold for persistence, the response of mean disease incidence to planting date variance was non-linear and the region of greatest sensitivity was closest to the threshold. Thus, disease systems that show moderate rather than high cropping asynchrony are more likely to be influenced by changes in the variance of planting date. Implications for the area-wide management of rice tungro virus disease are discussed.     

Role of acquisition and inoculation time in the expression of clonal variation for BYDV-PAV transmission in the aphid species Rhopalosiphum padi

Vector efficiency of 20 Rhopalosiphum padi clones, originating from Europe, North America and North Africa and exhibiting different types of life cycle, was evaluated by transmitting a French BYDV-PAV isolate to barley plants under five different acquisition/inoculation sequences (AAP/IAP). Differences between clones in transmission efficiency were found only when a short AAP was followed by a long IAP (6 h/120 h) and, to some extent, when a long AAP (48 h) was followed by a short IAP (6 h), but no differences were found when the conditions for virus transmission were optimal, i.e. long AAP followed by long IAP (48 h/120 h). There were no differences in transmission rates by clones of different geographical origins and with different life cycles. As a consequence, clonal variation is probably of little importance in the vector aspects of the epidemiology of PAV serotypes transmitted by R. padi , but the availability of a range of clones exhibiting transmission differences under limiting AAP or IAP conditions could be of interest for studies of virus–vector relationships.     

Transmission of grapevine leafroll-associated closteroviruses by Pseudococcus longispinus and P. calceolariae

The transmission of two closteroviruses associated with grapevine leafroll, GLRaV-1 and GLRaV-3, from grapevine to grapevine by the mealybugs, Pseudococcus longispinus and P. calceolariae (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae) was studied. Controlled transmission experiments using the first and third instars of each insect were conducted twice during the 1993–94 growing season to investigate the consequence of virus accumulation within the donor vine leaf tissue on the incidence of virus transmission to healthy recipient vines. Transmission of GLRaV-1 and GLRaV-3 was determined by ELISA testing recipient vines in July 1994 and March 1995. GLRaV-3 was transmitted to recipient vines by P. longispinus and P. calceolariae first instars only. An increase in virus titre within the season did not significantly alter the transmission rate of GLRaV-3 by either P. longispinus or P. calceolariae first instars. P. longispinus and P. calceolariae failed to transmit GLRaV-1 to recipient vines.