Use of digital droplet PCR analysis in early diagnostics of winter wheat infection caused by Tilletia spp.

The study aimed at using the digital droplet PCR (ddPCR) analysis to identify wheat infection by Tilletia caries (DC.) Tul. and Tilletia laevis Kühn in the early stages of plant development. The tests were carried out on winter wheat, artificially inoculated with T. caries and T. laevis teliospores. For the ddPCR tests wheat in development phases BBCH 10–32 and 75 development phases was collected. The ddPCR analysis showed the possibility of identifying pathogen’s DNA since the development phase of BBCH 10. In control plants – not infected with Tilletia spp. the presence of fungal DNA was not detected. According to the obtained results, it was also possible to trace the dynamics of pathogen DNA propagation in wheat tissues during a plant development.