Saprophytic colonization of wheat and barley by Pyrenophora tritici-repentis in the field

Abstract

The saprophytic colonization of wheat and barley by Pyrenophora tritici-repentis was examined in the field. The wheat cultivars, Sunstar (susceptible) and Suneca (moderately resistant) and the barley cultivar O'Conner (highly resistant) were exposed to natural inoculum. On all cultivars, the fungus was recovered only from yellow spot lesions prior to leaf senescence but was recovered from all sites throughout a leaf soon after it senesced. The fungus was recovered from the stem immediately prior to harvest maturity. Colonization of the host plant was stimulated by leaf senescence, with no evidence of differences within or between wheat and barley cultivars.