Peculiarities of selection for winter wheat resistance to common bunt
Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture, Instituto al. 1, Akademija, Kedainiai distr., LT-58344,Lithuania; e-mail: liatukas@lzi.lt
Abstract:
The effects of the years on the level of infection, and the impact of the number of replications on the reliability of cultivar resistance were studied in an artificially inoculated nursery over a period of twelve years from 1993–2004. The aim of the tests was to ascertain how many years of testing and how many replications are necessary to reveal the actual bunt resistance of a variety. During the study period we tested over 2000 cultivars differing in origin, and advanced breeding lines. Some were investigated for up to 8 years. Average disease incidence varied from 6.3 to 47.9%, depending on the experimental year. Bunt incidence was considerably variable between replications and especially over years. This suggests that the effectiveness of short-term testing of common bunt is very low. To achieve precise assessment of wheat resistance to common bunt, the following experimental design should be pursued: at least three plot replications, the use of several standard cultivars with known resistance level, and at least three repetitions in the years with diverse disease severity.
Key words:
common bunt, variability of incidence, winter wheat