Investigating the Impact of Root-Lesion Nematodes (<i>Pratylenchus thornei</i>) and Crown Rot (<i>Fusarium pseudograminearum)</i> on Diverse Cereal Cultivars in a Conservation Farming System

Abstract

In two experiments on a farm practicing conservation agriculture, the grain yield of a range of wheat cultivars was significantly (p 0.001) negatively related to the post-harvest population densities of Pratylenchus thornei in the soil profile to 45 cm depth. In a third and fourth experiment with different rotations, methyl bromide fumigation significantly (p P. thornei in the soil profile to 90 cm depth and (b) a high initial population of P. thornei to 45 cm depth, and a medium level of the crown rot fungus, Fusarium pseudograminearum, at 0–15 cm depth to a low level. For a range of wheat and durum cultivars, grain yield and response to fumigation were highly significantly (p 0.001) related to (a) the P. thornei tolerance index of the cultivars in the third experiment, and (b) to both the P. thornei tolerance index and the crown rot resistance index in the fourth experiment. In the latter, grain yield was significantly (p P. thornei and F. pseudograminearum, is key to success for conservation farming in this region.

Keywords

• root-lesion nematode
• <i>Pratylenchus thornei</i>
• crown rot
• <i>Fusarium pseudograminearum</i>
• wheat
• durum