Effect of Ethrel treatment of wheat on the susceptibility to fungal diseases and on the root zone mycoflora of this plant

Abstract

Wheat cv. 'Grana' grown under field conditions was sprayed with solutions of Ethrel (500, 1000 and 3000 ppm) in three phases of plant development: tillering, appearance of the first node of a culm and coming into ear. The plant analysis was done seven days after the last spray. It has been found that Ethrel treatment decreased the length of a straw, reduced plant susceptibility to Cercosporella herpotrichoidesnfection and that with species of the Fusarium genus. On the other hand it increased wheat susceptibility to Erysiphe graminis infection, and particularly to that with Puccinia triticina. Ethrel slightly affected the mycoflora of the root zone - it significantly increased only the percentage of species of the genus Penicillium and reduced that of Mucor hiemalis. The Ethrel effect on the specific composition of rhizoplane mycoflora proved to be insignificant.