Australasian Plant Pathology (2019) 48, 339-341

Rosemary Helen Smith, Daniel Hüberli, Darshan Lal Sharma and Mario Francesco D'Antuono (2019)
Soil salinity exacerbates crown rot in wheat
Australasian Plant Pathology 48 (4), 339-341
Abstract: Crown rot of wheat (Fusarium pseudograminearum) and dryland salinity cause significant economic losses to the Australian grains industry especially under water stressed conditions during grain filling, but association between them has not been previously reported. We collected opportunistic data on electrical conductivity (EC) and crown rot disease assessments in a replicated wheat germplasm field experiment at Nangeenan, a low rainfall area of Western Australia (WA). A positive correlation (r = 0.63, P < 0.001, df = 28) was found between crown rot index and the composite measure of salinity, computed as the log₁₀ (product of EC values at depths). The simple linear relationship above can be further improved by fitting different intercepts and common slopes for each variety (adjusted R² = 0.54). These observations indicate that crown rot symptoms are more severe in saline soils and have implications for the practical advice given to growers as well as for the planning of research experiments on biotic and abiotic factors.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Daniel Hüberli

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
environment - cropping system/rotation

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Fusarium pseudograminearum