Developing a controlled environment method to screen wheat for resistance to common root rot: a progress report

Abstract

Common root rot (CRR; Cochliobolus sativus) occurs in all wheat growing regions of Australia and costs the wheat industry $30M annually with the potential to cause losses of up to $108M (1). Currently, resistance to CRR is assessed by visually estimating browning on the sub-crown internode (SCI) of field grown plants (2). The objective of this study is to develop a faster controlled environment (CE) method to evaluate resistance to CRR that is strongly correlated to existing field resistance classifications. The results presented in this abstract are a summary of three experiments completed to date.