Author
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Smith, Richard |
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Submitted to: Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 6/26/1996 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Sclerotinia crown and stem rot, caused by Sclerotinia trifoliorum Eriks., is one of the most destructive diseases on forage legumes in the eastern and north central areas of the U.S. Development of resistant red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) germplasm has been a slow process, due in part to the inability to obtain a reliable indication of individual plant response to the disease. The use of ascospores of S. trifoliorum as a source of inoculum to determine plant response under controlled conditions has been effective. Even under well controlled environmental conditions, however, a high percentage of the susceptible plants are not detected. In an attempt to obtain a more accurate reading of the plant response, a two stage procedure was developed which involves a mass inoculation of two-week old plants with ascospores followed by a replicated leaflet inoculation of those plants surviving the mass inoculation. The two stage procedure is more efficient and has hastened the progress of developing resistant germplasm. This two stage procedure is described and compared to the conventional mass inoculation procedure. |
