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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Crop Germplasm Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #389217
Research Project: Identification of Resistance in Sorghum to Fungal Pathogens and Characterization of Pathogen Population Structure

Location: Crop Germplasm Research

Title: Incidence of zonate leaf spot on sorghum accessions under disease-conducive growing conditions Burleson County, Texas

Author
item Prom, Louis
item ISAKEIT, THOMAS - Texas A&M University

Submitted to: Journal of Agriculture and Crops
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/19/2021
Publication Date: 12/27/2021
Citation: Prom, L.K., Isakeit, T. 2021. Incidence of zonate leaf spot on sorghum accessions under disease-conducive growing conditions Burleson County, Texas. Journal of Agriculture and Crops. 8(1):35-38. https://doi.org/10.32861/jac.81.35.38.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32861/jac.81.35.38

Interpretive Summary: Zonate leaf spot is a fungal disease of sorghum and other grasses that can cause significant yield and quality losses, especially during humid and wet weather conditions early in the growing season. During the 2021 growing season, weather conditions were favorable for zonate leaf spot development and spread within sorghum fields at Burleson County, Texas. Therefore, 68 sorghum lines, including lines from US, Ethiopia, Mali, and Sudan were rated for resistance to zonate leaf spot. Our work showed that 13 lines, including PI330255, PI534157, and PI570841 were free of the disease. These lines could be used in the breeding of zonate leaf spot resistant lines in the US and abroad to reduce the impact of this disease.

Technical Abstract: The frequent rains coupled with cooler than normal maximum temperatures in the early part of the 2021 growing season created conditions for severe outbreaks of zonate leaf spot infection on sorghum plants in the experimental plots at the Texas A&M AgriLife Farm, Burleson County, Texas. As a result, the incidence of zonate leaf spot was recorded for 68 accessions planted in one of the field trials. In this study, 13 sorghum accessions, including TAM428, BTx635, PI330255, PI534157, PI570841, PI609251, PI570726, and PI267588 were free of zonate leaf spot infection, indicating that they were highly resistant to the disease. The lines identified in this study may possess genes for resistance which can be useful in breeding programs for introgression of the resistant genes to elite or parental lines.