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Master of Science / Department of Plant Pathology / Erick D. DeWolf / Stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, historically has been a minor problem in the Great Plains. However, Kansas had significant losses due to stripe rust in 2001, 2003, and 2005. Recent research on the population of P. striiformis suggests changes in the fungal population may have been responsible for these epidemics. The objectives of this research were to determine conditions that are favorable for the infection of P. striiformis f. sp. tritici isolates from the current population and develop models to predict infection events. Two week old potted seedlings were inoculated with an isolate of P. striiformis and exposed to ambient weather conditions for 16 hours. Results of this bioassay were used to develop logistic regression models of infection. Models using hours at relative humidity >87%, leaf wetness, and mean relative humidity predicted infection with 93%, 80%, and 76% accuracy. Future research will use these results to determine weather patterns that influence the probability of stripe rust epidemics and to facilitate the development of regional prediction models for stripe rust. Foliar diseases of wheat result in an average yield loss of 7.8% in Kansas. Although it is possible to reduce these losses with foliar fungicides, the yield increases resulting from these applications may not justify the additional costs. The objective of this research was to develop models that help producers identify factors associated with disease-related yield loss and the profitable use of foliar fungicides. Data were collected for two years at three locations in central Kansas to determine yield response to fungicide application on eight varieties with varying degrees of resistance. Logistic regression was used to model the probability of a yield response >4 bushels per acre based on disease resistance of a variety, historical disease risk, and in-season disease risk. The accuracy of the resulting prediction models ranged from 84% to 71%. A model combining in-season disease risk and variety resistance was most accurate. The prediction accuracy of the model was 79% when tested with an independent validation dataset. In the future, these models will serve as educational tools to help producers maximize profit and productivity.

A cercosporiose é a principal doença foliar do caquizeiro no Brasil. A doença está distribuída entre as principais regiões produtoras do país e é responsável pela queda precoce das folhas e maturação antecipada dos frutos. Informações referentes a este patossistema são escassas na literatura. O objetivo deste trabalho foi (I) desenvolver e validar uma escala diagramática para avaliar a severidade da cercosporiose; (II) caracterizar isolados obtidos de folhas de caquizeiros com sintomas de cercosporiose de diferentes regiões do Brasil através de análises filogenéticas, morfologia e testes de patogenicidade; e (III) estudar os processos infecção e colonização de isolado patogênico causador de cercosporiose em folhas de caquizeiro. A escala diagramática desenvolvida compreende seis diagramas com severidade variando entre 0,5 e 17,3%. O uso da escala diagramática melhorou a acurácia, precisão, concordância e reprodutibilidade das estimativas conduzidas por 10 avaliadores, mostrando-se, portanto, eficiente para avaliação de cercosporiose de caquizeiros. Para a caracterização de 37 isolados obtidos em folhas de caquizeiros com cercosporiose, coletadas nos estados de São Paulo, Paraná e Rio Grande do Sul, foram analisadas as sequências do espaçador interno transcrito (ITS), actina (ACT) e fator de elongação 1-α (TEF). Alta diversidade genética foi observada entre os isolados coletados. A rede de haplótipos gerada a partir da análise dos três genes de forma concatenada resultou na formação de 10 haplótipos. As colônias apresentaram coloração predominantemente esverdeada, topografia levantada com bordos inteiro, ausência de esporos e crescimento lento. Quanto ao processo de infecção, a penetração do patógeno ocorreu através dos estômatos, mas não foi observado tropismo positivo em direção aos estômatos. No processo de colonização dos tecidos foliares, compostos fenólicos foram acumulados no tecido infectado, porém não foram capazes de conter o processo de colonização. Os testes histoquímicos também revelaram o acúmulo de pectina nas células da extensão da bainha foliar e a presença de compostos lipofílicos nas áreas lesionadas. Foram observadas vesículas nos espaços intercelulares em regiões com a presença de hifas do patógeno, que possivelmente estão envolvidas na degradação da parede celular do hospedeiro. / Angular Leaf spot is the major foliar disease of persimmon in Brazil. The disease is widely spread among major producing areas in the country and is responsible for early defoliation and anticipated fruits ripening. Information about the pathosystem are limited. Therefore, this study aimed to (I) develop and validate a standard area diagram set (SADs) for assessing angular leaf spot severity; (II) characterize isolates obtained from persimmon leaves with angular leaf spot symptoms from different regions by means of phylogenetic analyses, morphological features and pathogenicity tests; and (III) study infection and colonization process of pathogen isolate that caused angular leaf spot in persimmon leaves. The SADs developed comprises six colour diagrams with severity ranging from 0.5 to 17.3%. The use of the SADs improved the accuracy, precision, agreement and inter-rater reliability of the estimates conducted by 10 raters, showed to be adequate for estimates of angular leaf spot in persimmon. To characterize 37 isolates obtained from persimmon leaves with angular leaf spot, collected from the states of São Paulo, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul, were analyzed internal transcribed spacer (ITS), actin (ACT) and elongation factor 1-α (TEF) sequences. High genetic variability was observed among collected isolates. The haplotype network generated from combined analyzed of ITS, ACT and TEF, showed 10 distinct haplotypes. Colonies showed predominantly greenish color, raised elevation with circular form, absence of spores and slow growth. In the infection process, the germ tubes entered the leaf tissue through the stomata, but was not observed positive tropism to stomata. In the colonization process of foliar tissues, phenolic compounds were accumulated in the infected tissue; however, they did not prevent the colonization progress. Histochemical studies showed accumulation of pectin in the bundle sheath extension cells and the presence of lipophilic compounds in the injured areas. Vesicles were observed in the intercellular spaces in regions with the presence of hyphae of the pathogen, that are possibly involved in the degradation of the host cell wall.

Studies were conducted on three field trials of wheat cv. Kopara to investigate the lack of compensation by later determined components of yield because of early disease constraints. The investigation was based on the hypothesis that early disease reduces root development and thus causes the plants to be water constrained at later growth stages when soil water deficits usually occur. The reduced root development and soil water deficits may reduce the ability of the plant to compensate for reductions in early determined components. The hypothesis was tested by the application of irrigation to alleviate water stress. In a disease free crop, the possible phytotonic effects of the fungicides benomyl and triadimefon on wheat were investigated. These fungicides had no phytotonic effects on shoot, root growth, or yield under the prevailing conditions. The effect of disease on root development was analysed by root length measurements. Disease present in the crop at any stage of growth affected root development. Root development in the upper zones of the soil profile was reduced more by disease compared to those zones below 35 cm. A full disease epidemic reduced root development more than an early or late disease epidemic. The early and late disease epidemics had similar effects on root length. Alleviation of early disease constraints enabled greater development of roots to offset any earlier reductions. Soil water deficits increased root development in the lower zones of the nil disease plants. The presence of adequate soil water from irrigation reduced the requirement for further root growth in all treatments. In the 1981-1982 field trial a full disease epidemic reduced yield by 14% whereas an early disease epidemic reduced yield by 7%. The reduction in yield was attributed to a lower grain number. With irrigation the yield reduction in the full disease plants was 12% whereas in the early disease plants the reduction was only 2.4%. This indicated that plants affected by the early disease epidemic were water constrained. In this study, the results suggested that, for conditions prevailing in Canterbury, the supply of water at later growth stages increased grain weight in plants which were subject to early disease epidemics. This suggests that reduced root development caused by early disease and soil water deficits may prevent compensation by grain weight. Water use was similar in all disease treatments. After irrigation the irrigated plants of all treatments used more water. Disease affected water use in relation to yield production however, and was better expressed by water use efficiency. Water use efficiency was reduced in the full disease plants. A stepwise regression analysis suggested that water use efficiency was affected directly by disease at later growth stages, and indirectly via an effect on total green leaf area at early growth stages. This study partially proves the hypothesis that reductions in root development caused by an early disease epidemic may constrain the plants at later growth stages when water deficits usually occur. It was shown that the reduction in root development caused by disease could be counteracted by irrigation. In this respect, water served as a tool to study the effect of disease constraints on the yield of wheat. A knowledge of cereal crop physiology, root growth and function is used to explain and discuss the observations made in this research programme. The results are discussed in relation to the way in which disease affects yield through its effect on root development. The possible reasons for the continued effects of disease even after the control of disease at later growth stages are discussed. The economic use of fungicides and water in diseased crops are also outlined. Suggestions for future studies on disease-yield loss relationships are provided. The repetition of these experiments in different sites and climatic regions could provide information which may be incorporated in disease-yield loss simulation models. This could then be used to predict root development and water requirements of diseased plants, and provide a basis for economic use of fungicides and water, and for better disease management programmes.