Disease Note.

First Report of Tilletia indica on Wheat in Nepal. D. V. Singh, IARI, New Delhi-110012, India. R. Agarwal, J. K. Shrestha, B. R. Thapa, and H. J. Dubin. NWDP, Department of Agriculture, Bhairahawa, Nepal; and CIMMYT, Box 1336, Kathmandu, Nepal. Plant Dis. 73:273. Accepted for publication 22 November 1988. Copyright 1989 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-73-0273B.

Tilletia indica Mitra (= Neovossia indica (Mitra) Mundkur), causal agent of Karnal bunt of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), was observed on the cultivar RR 21 (Sonalika) in the Doti district of Nepal during 1986-1987. Kamal bunt has been confirmed in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Mexico; however, the report of this disease from Syria and Turkey is unconfirmed. The infected seed sample from Nepal and an Indian sample of the same variety were compared for disease symptoms and teliospore morphology. The infected grains were fragile and partially darkened, and the endosperm converted into a mass of black teliospores. Most of the grains were broken at the embryo end. Teliospores were globose and dark brown with a reticulate surface and an apiculus. Teliospores from Nepalese and Indian grain samples were 24-40 µm (av. 33 µm) and 29-39 µm (av. 36 µm), respectively. Teliospore germination in the Nepalese grain was similar (6%) to that in the Indian grain (8%). On the basis of symptomatology and teliospore and promycelium morphology, the pathogen in the Nepal sample was identified as T. indica.