Summary
Cochliobolus sativus (Ito and Kurib.) Drechsl. ex Dastur is a major foliar pathogen of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) which can greatly reduce the quantity and quality of forages available for animal consumption. A greenhouse screening program was initiated to determine the inheritance of resistance to C. sativus in tall fescue over several cycles of mass selection. Resistance to C. sativus in four tall fescue cultivars was increased with 2–3 cycles of mass selection. Realized heritabilities were low to moderate (0.04 to 0.58) indicating that environmental influences on the expression of resistance are quite high. Variances were unchanged by selection, indicating that further improvement should be possible. However, progress with mass selection can be expected to be slow. Lesion size was decreased in each cultivar by selecting for lesion coverage. Lesion size, being independent of inoculum load and therefore less subject to environmental variation, should be considered as an additional selection criteria to improve the rate of progress.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allinson DW, Washko WW (1972) Influence of a disease complex on yield and quality components of silage corn. Agron 164:257–258
Cook FG (1975) Production loss estimation in Drechslera infection of ryegrass. Ann Appl Biol 81:251–256
Gross DF, Mankin CJ, Ross JG (1975) Effect of disease on in vitro digestibility of smooth bromegrass. Crop Sci 15:273–275
Hodges CF (1972) Influence of culture age and temperature on germination of Helminthosporium sorokinianum conidia and on pathogenicity to Poa protensis. Phytopathology 62:1133–1137
Jessen DL, Carlson IT, Hodges CF (1983) Growth-chamber and field reaction of three smooth bromegrass strains to Pyrenophora bromi (Died.) Drechsl. Crop Sci 23:709–711
Linscombe SD (1982) Resistance to Helminthosporium infection in tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.). PhD Diss, Mississippi State University (Diss Abstr 43:2060)
Linscombe SD, Watson CE Jr, Trevathan LE (1983) Inheritance of resistance to infection by Drechslera sorokiniana in tall fescue. Crop Sci 23:1085–1087
Mower RG, Millar RL (1963) Histological relationships of Helminthosporium vagans, H. sativum, and Curvularia lunata in leaves of Merion and Common Kentucky bluegrass. Phytopathology 53:351
Smith MA (1986) Inheritance of resistance to Cochliobolus sativus infection and effects on forage quality components in tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) PhD Diss, Mississippi State University
Smith MA, Watson CE Jr, Watson VH, Trevathan LE (1984) Response of tall fescue to Drechslera sorokiniana infection. Agron Abstr p 2
Tinline RD, Dickson JG (1958) Cochliobolus sativus. 1. Perithecial development and the inheritance of spore color and mating type. Mycologia 50:697–706
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by J. MacKey
Journal article No. 6370 of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Smith, M.A., Watson, C.E., Linscombe, S.D. et al. Selection for resistance to Cochliobolus sativus in tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.). Theoret. Appl. Genetics 72, 807–810 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00266549
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00266549