United Kingdom
March 1, 2016
An increase in deadly “cereal killers” – rust fungi that are affecting resistant wheat strains – is a growing concern. Wheat, one of the most profitable crops in the UK, is grown on more land area than any other commercial food, and the global wheat trade exceeds that of any other crop. In order to protect crops from diseases that are becoming increasingly diverse, growers and industry should look towards the Recommended List, an in-depth list that assists the industry in making informed decisions on variety choice.
AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds invest 13% of their total levy income in the Recommended List (RL). It represents years of work by plant breeding companies, researchers at AHDB and collaborations with BSPB, MAGB and nabim.
Among its many attributes are the disease ratings, which provide growers with independent information on varietal resistance to the important UK cereal and oilseed diseases. According to Dr Jenna Watts (pictured), Research and Knowledge Transfer Manager at AHDB, this information can be used as part of an integrated disease management plan.
She says: “There are questions over the future of fungicide availability due to the development of fungicide resistance and the potential for legislative change; therefore, varietal disease resistance is likely to become even more important. The information provided by the ratings can also be used to help prioritise fungicide sprays.”
The RL is able to provide recommendations through the vital collection of field data. Dr Watts says: “The RL requires a large number of trials in order to provide the grower with the most accurate picture of variety performance as possible.”
Within the trials program, there are three different types to calculate the disease ratings: untreated trials, disease observation plots and inoculated trails.
Dr Watts continues: “The inoculated trials are particularly important as a high disease pressure is established that pulls out the differences between resistant and susceptible varieties. It is these differences that the RL disease ratings aim to represent.
“There is a high awareness of the RL by growers, industry and researchers. Cereal growers require a lot of technical crop information, and the RL fulfils part of this. In addition, data generated by the RL may be requested and used by research organisations for research projects that will be of benefit to the industry.”
The RL disease ratings are underpinned by work done on the United Kingdom Cereal Pathogen Virulence Survey (UKCPVS). This AHDB and APHA funded project, led by NIAB, has been monitoring cereal rusts and mildews in the UK for more than 40 years, detecting and identifying new races of disease that can emerge on previously resistant varieties. The new approach of field pathogenomics, led by TGAC and in collaboration with UKCPVS, has the potential to assist the RL with rapidly assessing the threat that each new race may pose to commercial varieties.
Dr Watts believes that advances in the field pathogenomics approach will lead to better disease monitoring activities. She says: “The tests are rapid and relatively cheap, compared to traditional pathotyping techniques, meaning more samples can be analysed. It is also possible to identify and confirm the host variety of a sample.
“However, it is important that results can be interpreted in a similar way to the results of traditional pathotyping techniques to ensure they are of immediate value to growers and plant breeders.”
Dr Watts will be speaking at the Pollinator ‘Rusts and Other Cereal Killers’ on 12 April. Find out more and book your ticket here.
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