Abstract only

Wheat and barley are two of the mast impartant arable craps in Turkey. Different types and cultivars are grown under diverse agroclimatic conditions and various diseases that cause significant yield and quality losses may occur depending on climatic conditions. The wheat and barley diseases research network has been established to integrate disease-related research activities ofthe research institutes with the objective of improving the productivity of wheat and barley and reducing the losses caused by the plant diseases. The overall objective is to facilitate the development of disease-resistant cultivars of bread wheat, durum wheat and barley by breeding programs operable at the research institutes in winter and spring cereal growing areas of the country. Specific aims of the study include the multilocational screening of germplasm developed by different research institutes against important diseases in different environments and the exchange of the sources of resistance against different diseases among research institutes. A total of 51 scientists from 13 research institutes are involved in the study. The primary target diseases are stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis), Leaf rust (Puccinia recondita) and common bunt (Tilletia caries, Tfoetida) for wheat and scald (Rhynchosporium secalis) and barley leaf stripe (Pyrenophora graminea) for barley and root and foot rots, caused by Fusarium spp. and Drechslera sorokiniana, for both crops. In 2003, 8 wheat and 2 barley nurseries were established, consisting of 1404 and 363 genotypes respectively. Wheat nurseries have been sown in 11 locations and barley nurseries in 6 locations for screening against the target diseases. Disease development was promoted with appropriate measures, including irrigation and artificial inoculation in some locations. Some of the nurseries were also screened under greenhouse conditions. As a result ofthe first year activity, 610,376,89 and 25 wheat genotypes were identified to have an acceptable level of resistance to stripe rust (P. striiformis), leaf rust (P. recondita), common bunt (I: caries, T:foetida) and root/foot rots, respectively. Similarly, l20 and 87 barley genotypes showed a good level of resistance to scald (R. secalis) and barley leaf stripe (P. graminea) respectively. The study facilitated the multilocational testing of the germplasm in different environments and the exchange of the germplasms with disease-resistance properties among the breeding programs. The study is financed by the General Directorate of Agricultural Research of the Ministry of Agriculture of Turkey (Grant no: TAGEM/TA/O3/03/0 1/031).

English

0408|AGRIS 0401|AL-Wheat Program

Juan Carlos Mendieta

CIMMYT Publications Collection