Yellow rust races like 14S64 and 15S64 have existed 5-6 decades back in India and continue to prevail and prosper in this cold desert region of Kashmir, India.
Yellow rust pathogen, Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) can survive extreme cold as a dormant mycelium in the host and also as urediniospore. The survival of dormant mycelium is host dependent and it survives as long as the host tissue survives during winter. Urediniospores remain viable even when severe winters kill the foliage. I have reviewed survival of Pst in details in my dissertation. Please visit the following link for dissertation or a paper on Pst survival.
http://research.wsulibs.wsu.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/2376/4061/SharmaPoudyal_wsu_0251E_10339.pdf?sequence=1
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00484-013-0683-6
Thank you
But how those races survive in absence of host (wheat) under extreme cold and cause recurrent infections year after year.
Although primary hosts of Puccinia striiformis are wheat (Triticum spp.) and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), the pathogen can infect Aegilops, Agropyron, Bromus, Elymus, Hordeum, and Secale spp. Different hosts, about 320 species of grasses from 50 genera, have been reported as hosts under natural or controlled conditions. Therefore even if wheat and barley are absent in the area, Pst may overwinter in some of winter hardy hosts and provide primary source of inoculum for favorable conditions.
Yes, it can survive under sub Zero temperature. I conducted the study here in Canada where temperature remain sub zero for atleast four month and even uo to -40-50C. But still it survive and overwinter on frozen tissue/residue of winter wheat or other alternate host or as dormant micelium or Uridiniospores. See my publication in CJPP 2013.
Research Scientist, Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, Alberta, Canada.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Biological Science
- Biota
- Eukaryota
- Fungi