Use of chrysanthemum plantlets grown in vitro to test cultivar susceptibility to white rust, Puccinia horiana P. Hennings

1439-0523

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition

An efficient incubation and inoculation system for white rust was established using plantlets of chrysanthemum growing in vitro. The internal conditions of a culture vessel (plant box) were maintained at a humidity of 90-100% and an optimum temperature of 20-25°C, which are suitable conditions to germinate teliospores and basidiospores of the pathogen. Telia were maintained continuously on plants in the plant box and were used as an inoculum for infection experiments throughout the year, allowing differences in susceptibility to white rust among chrysanthemum cultivars to be detected. Susceptibility to white rust in the plant-box evaluation showed a good correlation with the rating of sporulation on plants grown in a greenhouse. The method described here is a simple, space-saving inoculation system to evaluate the susceptibility of chrysanthemums to white rust.

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