Infection of barley (Hordeum vulgare) leaves with the rust fungus, Puccinia hordei, causes changes in the host protein synthesis. This thesis analyses these changes in the barley cultivar Triumph following inoculation of 7-day-old leaves with either a virulent or an avirulent race of P. hordei. The initial approach was to isolate membrane-bound polysomes from infected leaves, translate them in vitro and analyse the translation products. These products include the integral membrane proteins which were expected to be involved in the response of the host to the pathogen. A method based on differential centrifugation in the presence of a ribonuclease-inhibiting buffer was developed for separating membrane-bound polysomes from the rest of the cytoplasmic polysomes. Membrane-bound polysomes were found to comprise one fifth of the total polysomes in the leaves. Analysis of the translation products of membrane-bound polysomes by SDS-PAGE showed them to be of higher average molecular weight than those from free polysomes. Comparison of polypeptides produced by membrane-bound polysomes from healthy and inoculated plants showed some differences however the low yield of membrane-bound polysomes made it difficult to obtain conclusive results. Thus it was decided to isolate total polysomes by including 1% Triton X-100 in the extraction buffer. Polysomes were extracted from 12 to 72 h after inoculation. Infection caused a decline in yield of polysomes during this period when compared with healthy leaves of the same age. Polysomes isolated 16 h after inoculation with the virulent race were 20% less efficient at translation than polysomes from control leaves. In contrast polysome isolated from leaves inoculated with the avirulent race were 20% more efficient. Analysis of the labelled translation products by SDS-PAGE and fluorography showed relative increases in the synthesis of some proteins by 16 h after inoculation with either race when compared to products from healthy leaves. Protein synthesis in the infected plants was further analysed by in vivo labelling and one- and two-dimensional PAGE. The fluorographs revealed increased synthesis of a group of proteins from 58 to 116 kDa starting 12 h after inoculation with either race of P. hordei; confirming the results from the polysome translations. Two polypeptides with molecular weights of about 66 kDa were found to increase following infection only with the virulent race. By three days after inoculation with either fungal race the most obvious change in protein synthesis was a marked decrease in the synthesis of the two most prominent polypeptides with molecular weights of 15 and 51 kDa which were considered to be the subunits of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase. The elicitor hypothesis, in attempting to explain cultivar-specific resistance in plants, postulates that resistance is controlled by the interaction of specific fungal elicitors and plant receptors and that this interaction which only occurs between resistant hosts and avirulent pathogens triggers specific gene expression leading to resistance. This hypothesis does not fit the situation in the barley-P. hordei interaction as protein synthesis showed similar changes following infection with either a virulent or an avirulent race.

Proportional loss models commonly used in disease surveys are based on the assumption that per cent yield loss is the same in all crops, regardless of their yield potential. Estimates of regional crop loss may be inaccurate if the relationship between disease and yield loss is affected by crop yield potential. The importance of crop yield potential in disease: yield loss modelling was investigated and models for more accurate regional crop loss estimates were developed, taking crop yield potential into account. Two spring sown barley (cv. Triumph) experiments were conducted in 1987/88 and 1988/89 in Canterbury, New Zealand, to study the effect of crop yield potential on the relationship between disease and yield loss. Crop yield potentials of 323 to 806gDM/m² were generated in seven crops by varying nitrogen and water inputs, sowing date (mid-spring and early-summer) and season. Leaf rust (Puccinia hordei Otth) epidemics of different severity were generated by applying fungicides at different times, frequencies and rates to control the natural epidemics. Disease was measured as per cent disease severity (%DS), green leaf area, radiation interception and near-infrared radiation (NIR) reflectance from crop canopies. Yield was measured as total and grain dry weight. Epidemics were severe in the fully diseased plots from GS 34 and 46 to maturity in the late and early sown crops respectively. Disease reduced grain yield by 50 to 63% in 1987/88 and 24 to 38% in 1988/89 in the fully diseased plots. Disease: yield loss models were derived by regression analysis for each crop in 1987/88. Single point, multiple point and area under curve models were derived from %DS and GLAI variables, and proportional (%) and actual (gDM/m²) grain yield. The effect of yield potential was determined by comparing regression equation coefficients for each crop with crop yield potential. An area under green leaf area index curve (AUGLAIC): actual yield model was best suited to determining the effect of yield potential on yield loss. This model was selected because AUGLAIC summarised the effect of disease on plant growth over the season and actual yield represented the crop yield potential in the absence of disease and the response of actual yield to disease. Crop yield potential did not affect actual yield loss caused by leaf rust. Disease measured as AUGLAIC explained most of the variation in yield (R²adj=0.93) for all crops in both years. Assessment of GLAI is not suitable for estimation of regional crop loss because of the requirement for a rapid and low cost method. Reflectance of NIR from the crop canopy was investigated as an alternative to GLAI measurements. Reflectance was correlated significantly (P<0.001) with GLAI (r=0.66 to 0.89) and green area index (r=0.76 to 0.92). Reflectance measured at grain-filling (GS 85-87) explained most (R²adj=0.94) of the variation in yield for all crops in both years. The relationship between AUGLAIC and yield was validated with data from independent diseased and healthy barley crops. The AUGLAIC: yield model described the effects of disease on yield accurately but overestimated yield by 49 to 108% in the healthy crops. Models based on accumulated PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) intercepted by green leaves explained the observed deviations in yield of these crops from the AUGLAIC: yield model. Accumulated PAR models accounted for differences in incident radiation, canopy structure, radiation interception by green leaves, radiation use efficiency and harvest index which are important in determining dry matter production and grain yield. Accumulated PAR models described the effects of disease on crop growth which were not represented by GLAI alone. Variation in crop yield potential at the regional scale is important in disease: yield loss modelling and can be accounted for by using either separate equations for each yield potential crop or crop category, robust models, inclusion of a form function for yield potential or choice of disease and yield variables which integrate yield potential.