Non-hypersensitive stripe rust resistance in some Indian and exotic bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Abstract

Stripe rust of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) caused by Puccinia striiformis West, is a major threat to cultivation of wheat in North Western Plain Zone of India. The disease often appears in the second week of February and continues to increase till the end of March, when the plants are at maximum tillering stage to early boot stage. At this particular phase of the plant, adult plant resistance becomes operative, which may either be due to qualitatively inherited major hypersensitive resistance gene (s) or due to collective effect of minor genes or one or more of the genes not able to evoke hypersensitive response. The emphasis at present for the management of rusts worldwide is to develop varieties with partial resistance which is often of non-hypersensitive type [1 J. Such resistance is the most useful as it subtends very little or no selection pressure on the pathogen, thus remaining effective for long duration [2J. The present communication reports wheats with such partial resistance to stripe rust based on diverse genes.