The influence of soil-pH on the saprophytic growth in soil of the take-all fungus Gaeumannomyces graminis var tritici

Soil Research ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 627 ◽  
Author(s):  
OF Glenn ◽  
K Sivasithamparam

Experiments were conducted firstly, to determine whether there was a difference in saprophytic growth response of the pathogen to pH in soil from that on agar. Secondly, we examined whether the response to liming involved a sensitivity of the fungus to the concentration of hydrogen (H+) or calcium ions (Ca2+). The saprophytic growth of the take-all fungus showed that, although it is sensitive to soil pH, each strain behaves differently, and this behaviour cannot be predicted from agar studies. It seems unlikely, therefore, that the observed disease response to soil pH resulted from direct effects on the saprophytic phase of the fungus. There was no indication that increase in the Ca2+ in soil played any part in the growth response of the fungus. The potential for other indirect effects of pH on nutrient availability to the plant and to other stages in the disease cycle is discussed.

1987 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 411 ◽  
Author(s):  
GM Murray ◽  
BJ Scott ◽  
Z Hochman ◽  
BJ Butler

Lime was applied at rates from 0 to 5.0 t ha-1 at 4 sites in southern and central New South Wales. A root and crown disease characterised by basal stem blackening affected up to 60% of wheat plants and 80% of triticale plants when the soil pH in 0.01 mol L-1 CaCl2 was above 5.0 at all 4 sites. Below pH 4.8, incidence was less than 5%. The take-all fungus, Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici, was consistently associated with this symptom. Losses in grain yield from the disease ranged from 26 to 77% depending on site. Regression analysis indicates that each 10% increase in plants with basal stem blackening decreased yield by 0.76%. These results demonstrate that the disease can reverse the expected increase in yield after liming, and that progressive acidification of the soils in the region may have caused the present reduced amount of take-all.


1988 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 333 ◽  
Author(s):  
GC MacNish

Experiments were conducted to test the hypotheses that: (i) continuous cropping with wheat would lead to a decline in take-all, (ii) ammonium nitrogen would reduce take-all compared with nitrate nitrogen, and (iii) that both sources of nitrogen would lead to a decline in soil pH. Attempts were also made to confirm that rhizoctonia root rot would vary unpredictably in continuous wheat and would be reduced by nitrogen. Wheat was grown without nitrogen (Nil) or with sodium nitrate (SN) or ammonium sulfate (AS) for 11, 10 and 9 consecutive years at Newdegate, Esperance and Mount Barker respectively. Rates of nitrogen were 50, 25 and 45 kg ha-1 at Newdegate, Esperance and Mount Barker respectively. A decline in take-all incidence was established at Newdegate, and plots treated with AS generally had a lower take-all incidence than did plots without nitrogen or treated with SN. At Esperance, a decline in take-all incidence was established only in AS treated plots. Take-all incidence was lower in plots treated with AS than plots without nitrogen or treated with SN in 6 years out of 10 at Esperance. No take-all decline was observed at Mount Barker and take-all incidence was rarely lower in plots treated with AS than in those without nitrogen or treated with SN. All treatments reduced soil pH at Newdegate and Esperance, which were weakly buffered sites, but at Mount Barker (a highly buffered site) only AS reduced pH. Rhizoctonia root rot was not found at Mount Barker. At Newdegate and Esperance it first occurred in the eighth and fifth crops respectively. Incidence peaked at about 60% of plants being affected in the ninth crop at Newdegate and 95% in year 7 at Esperance, and then declined to less than 5% at both sites. Applications of nitrogen had no effect on incidence of rhizoctonia root rot. Yields varied considerably between sites and years. Combining results for all years at each site showed that AS increased yield at all sites and SN increased yields at Newdegate and Mount Barker compared with no nitrogen. The continued use of AS at Mount Barker eventually had an adverse effect on yield.


2010 ◽  
Vol 100 (5) ◽  
pp. 404-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youn-Sig Kwak ◽  
Peter A. H. M. Bakker ◽  
Debora C. M. Glandorf ◽  
Jennifer T. Rice ◽  
Timothy C. Paulitz ◽  
...  

Dark pigmented fungi of the Gaeumannomyces–Phialophora complex were isolated from the roots of wheat grown in fields in eastern Washington State. These fungi were identified as Phialophora spp. on the basis of morphological and genetic characteristics. The isolates produced lobed hyphopodia on wheat coleoptiles, phialides, and hyaline phialospores. Sequence comparison of internal transcribed spacer regions indicated that the Phialophora isolates were clearly separated from other Gaeumannomyces spp. Primers AV1 and AV3 amplified 1.3-kb portions of an avenacinase-like gene in the Phialophora isolates. Phylogenetic trees of the avenacinase-like gene in the Phialophora spp. also clearly separated them from other Gaeumannomyces spp. The Phialophora isolates were moderately virulent on wheat and barley and produced confined black lesions on the roots of wild oat and two oat cultivars. Among isolates tested for their sensitivity to 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol (2,4-DAPG), the 90% effective dose values were 11.9 to 48.2 μg ml–1. A representative Phialophora isolate reduced the severity of take-all on wheat caused by two different isolates of Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici. To our knowledge, this study provides the first report of an avenacinase-like gene in Phialophora spp. and demonstrated that the fungus is significantly less sensitive to 2,4-DAPG than G. graminis var. tritici.


Author(s):  
J. Walker

Abstract A description is provided for Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici. Information is included on the disease caused by the organism, its transmission, geographical distribution, and hosts. HOSTS: Gramineae, especially Triticum, Hordeum, Secale, Agropyron and several other grass genera and, more rarely, Sorghum and Zea; also recorded from the roots of plants in other families. DISEASE: Take-all of cereals and grasses (also referred to as deadheads or whiteheads, pietin and pied noir (France), Schwarzbeinigkeit and Ophiobolus Fusskrankheit (Germany), Ophiobolusvoetziekt (Netherlands) and others). Root infection is favoured by soil temperature from 12-20°C (Butler, 1961). Ascospore germ tubes penetrate root hairs and the epidermis in the meristematic region (Weste, 1972) leading to plugging of xylem and root death. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: (CMI Map 334, ed. 3, 1972). Widespread, especially in temperate zones. Africa; Asia (India, Iran, Japan, USSR): Australasia and Oceania; Europe; North America (Canada, USA); South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay). TRANSMISSION: In soil on infected organic fragments, as runner hyphae on roots of cereals and grasses and, under special conditions, by ascospores. Seed transmission very doubtful (47, 3058).


1984 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 735 ◽  
Author(s):  
MJ Wood ◽  
AD Robson

Wheat was grown in a soil at five levels of copper (ranging from levels deficient, to those luxurious, for plant growth), in the presence or absence of introduced take-all inoculum (oat kernels colonized by Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritica). The incidence and severity of take-all were related to the copper supply and hence the copper status of the wheat. Plants grown without applied copper were more severely infected by take-all than were those grown with an adequate or luxurious supply of copper. The number of lesions per gram fresh weight of roots was reduced from 6.5 to 2.4 by increasing the copper supply from that severely deficient, to that adequate for plant growth. In seminal roots, increasing the copper supply from levels severely deficient to those adequate or luxurious for plant growth, decreased the length of proximal lesions (those closest to the seed). By contrast, in nodal roots, a similar increase in copper supply had no effect on the length of proximal lesions, but increased the length of uninfected root between the crown and proximal lesions. In both seminal and nodal roots, copper supply did not affect the intensity of lesions.


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