Gaeumannomyces tritici

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symptoms of Gaeumannomyces tritici infection on wheat (click on image to enlarge it)
Author(s): Mary Burrows, Montana State University
Source: IPM Images

Gaeumannomyces tritici (J. Walker) Hern.-Restr. & Crous 2016 - (take-all disease of wheat)

This fungus is closely related to Gaeumannomyces graminis and has been previously regarded to be a subspecies of P. graminis. Compared to that species P. tritici is more virulent and the hyphopodia are not lobed. It can be separated from Gaeumannomyces avenae by its ascospore size and pathogenicity. P. tritici is widely distributed and highly aggressive. It infects mainly wheat (Triticum species), but has been also reported from other hosts like barley and several grasses.

Take-all is wide-spread in temperate regions and yield losses can reach 70%. The fungus invades the roots and lower stems which turn black and die off. The diseased plants can be pulled out easily. Above-ground symptoms include yellowing, stunting and poorly developed heads ("whiteheads"). Since the fungus spreads through the soil the disease is usually distributed in patches. Inoculum sources are plant residues from the previous year. Chemical control and resistant varieties have shown only limited success. Crop rotation is usually recommended to reduce the soil inoculum, but cases of suppressive soils have been also reported.

Vernacular names
• Deutsch: Schwarzbeinigkeit des Weizens
• English: take-all disease of wheat
• Español: piétin-échaudag
• Français: piétin échaudage
mal de pie de los cereales

The perithecia (ascoma) are black and 300-500 µm large. Mature ascospores are yellowish with 3-7 septa and around 70-100 µm long. Conidia are 4-7 x 1-1.5 µm large.

For a taxonomic review see Hernández-Restrepo et al., 2016.

Synonyms:
Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici