Australia
March 26, 2008
Researchers from the School of
Plant Biology at University of
Western Australia and
Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia have
identified useful sources of resistance to white rust disease,
caused by the fungus Albugo candida, in Brassica juncea
germplasm from Australia, China and India.
Members of a research team funded through an ACIAR and
GRDC project, Associate
Professor Martin Barbetti and Dr Caixia Li, said yield losses of
up to 20 per cent can occur in Australia in B. juncea and B.
rapa due to white rust.
Genotypes from China showed the best resistance, followed by
those from Australia and India.
The research identified genotypes with very high levels of
resistance to strains of A. candida present in WA and a much
more rapid method of screening seedlings for resistance under
controlled environments, compared with more expensive, more time
consuming field screening.
This is the first time very high levels of resistance, or a
reliable method of rapid characterisation of genotype responses
to A. candida, has been made available for Australian mustard
breeders. |
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