Resistance to common bunt (Tilletia tritici) and rust (Puccinia sp.) in hulled wheat

Summary

Common bunt (Tilletia tritici) and rust diseases (Puccinia sp.) was scored in 123 varieties of wheat species other than bread wheat. The species included Triticum spelta (90 lines), T.macha (18 lines), T.dicoccon (6 lines), T.timopheevii (3 lines) and one representative of each of the species T.vavilovii, T.karamyshevii, T. polonicum, T.carthlicum and T.compactum. Huge differences in bunt susceptibility were found in all species. Lines with low susceptibility were identified in Triticum spelta, T.macha, T.dicoccon, T.timopheevii and T.vavilovii but none in the few investigated lines of species T.karamyshevii, T. polonicum and T.carthlicum. All lines of T.macha, T.vavilovii and T.karamyshevii were susceptible to rust, were as resistance to this disease was frequent in T. spelta.
The study hereby has identified candidates for future plant breeding within these species. The lines were also screened for their ability to be sown as spring crops, which can be used as a strategy to control common bunt. Only few lines of T.spelta were of this intermediate type, whereas half of the lines of T.macha, T.dicoccon, T.timopheevii were.