Spore traps network: a new tool for predicting epidemics of wheat yellow rust

A network of Burkard 7-day spore-recording traps was set up in the Walloon Region in Belgium to monitor the airborne inoculum of wheat pathogens. The relationship between the airborne inoculum of Puccinia striiformis f.sp. tritici, the causal agent of stripe rust, and the disease incidence on plants in untreated plots located near each spore traps was studied during the 2008-2009 season. The presence of airborne inoculum was tested in four locations on tapes collected from the Burkard spore traps from 1 April to 14 June 2009. Total DNA from each fragment of spore trap tape corresponding to 1 day sampling was extracted. P. striiformis f.sp. tritici was quantified by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay using specific primers and SYBRGreen. The airborne inoculum of P. striiformis was first detected between 7 and 13 April 2009, depending on the location in the Walloon Region. The first symptoms of stripe rust were observed in the fields between 15 May and 2 June 2009. The onset of the disease symptoms was always preceded by a higher peak of airborne inoculum about 15 days earlier. When P. striiformis f.sp. tritici was detected, the daily quantities of spores, collected from a volume of air of 14.4 m3, fluctuated between 0.23 and 154.66. This study shows that spore traps coupled with real-time PCR could be used to assess the airborne inoculum of P. striiformis in order to understand and predict stripe rust outbreaks.

Distribution of airborne Mycosphaerella graminicola inoculum at the field scale

A network of 10 Burkard 7-day spore-recording traps was set up in the Walloon region in Belgium to monitor the airborne inoculum of wheat pathogens. Three spore traps were used to analyse the distribution of Mycosphaerella graminicola inoculum at the field scale, at 1 m above ground level. Two traps were set up in a wheat field 100 m apart. The third trap was placed 70 m away in a sugar beet field adjacent to the wheat field. Total DNA from each fragment of spore trap tape corresponding to 1 day sampling was extracted and the quantity of M. graminicola was assessed using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. The experiment was conducted from July to October 2009. Positive detections were obtained for between 33 and 36 days, depending on the spore traps. When detected, the daily quantities of cDNA, collected from a volume of 14.4 m3, fluctuated between 4.84E+00 and 6.10E+03. Correlation coefficients higher than 0,82 and no significant differences were observed between the quantities of M. graminicola collected by the three spore traps, indicating that, at 1 m above ground level, the distribution of inoculum can be considered as homogenous at the tested field scale. This study confirms that spore traps coupled with real-time PCR could be used to assess the airborne inoculum of M. graminicola and to understand the development of the disease at this scale.

Peanut Clump virus transmission by Polymyxa graminis under controlled conditions

More than fifteen soil-borne viruses belonging to the Beny-, Bymo-, Furo- or Pecluvirus, causing diseases on cereals and groundnut, are transmitted by the soil-borne protist root endoparasite Polymyxo graminis. Five special forms are distinguished within this species on the basis of their specific ecological and molecular characteristics, but the specificity of the transmission of the viruses by these forms has been Little investigated. In order to analyse the virus-vector interaction, the transmission assay of the Peanut clump virus by P. graminis f.sp. tropicalis has been conducted under controlled conditions. The major difficulty to be overcome was to combine high levels of PCV and vector infection in the same living plant. This was achieved by using cuttings of PCV-infected sugarcane (variety CP-89327) originating from Burkina Faso showing the typical red leaf mottle symptom as a source for the virus. A culture of P. graminis f.sp. tropicalis isolated from a PCV-infested soil from Niger was used as the vector. Systemic PCV infection in sugarcane at 25-30 degrees C allows plants with new young roots infected by the virus to be produced by placing cuttings of PCV-infected sugarcane in Hoagland nutrient solution for 21 days. These plants were inoculated with aviruliferous zoospores of P. graminis f.sp. tropicalis produced on infected pearl millet roots and maintained in an automatic immersion system. After 21 days' incubation at 25-30 degrees C with a 12 hour photoperiod, zoosporangia were observed in the roots of sugar cane. The zoospores released from these roots were used to infect healthy young pearl millet plants. Twenty days postinoculation, PCV was detected by RT-PCR in roots of inoculated plants. The vector was clearly identified in the roots by microscopy. This result reveals that a PCV isolate from red leaf mottle sugar cane is transmissible by a P. graminis f.sp. tropicalis isolate from a peanut clump infested field. This method should be helpful in the analysis of the specificity of pecluvirus transmission by P. graminis f.sp. tropicalis and P. graminis f.sp. subtropicalis.