Poster: Biology & Disease Mgmt: Genetics of Resistance
360-P
Early detection of adult plant resistance to oat crown rust using a qPCR assay
B. YIMER (1), B. Yimer (2), T. Gordon (2), J. Bonman (2) (1) USDA-ARS, U.S.A.; (2) USDA-ARS, U.S.A.
Oat crown rust caused by the fungus Puccinia coronata f. sp. avenae is a major production constraint of oat in North America. There are over 100 major genes identified from various oat accessions, but their effectiveness is generally short lived. Adult plant resistance is the alternative and best option for durable crown rust resistance in oats. In field grown small grain cereals, adult plant rust resistance is usually measured at the flag leaf stage using a visual assessment of disease severity and infection type. Quantitative PCR-based assays have the potential to provide a less subjective measure of host resistance at an earlier stage in plant development. Such quantitative assay techniques provide a measure of the amount of fungus within infected plants which, for some rusts, can be directly extrapolated to host resistance. Here we report the use of a qPCR assay to detect adult plant resistance to crown rust in oats before the flag leaf stage in an experiment conducted in a growth chamber environment.