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Alternate Crop Hosts

The bluegrass stripe rust pathogen [Puccinia pseudostriiformis (synonym: P. striiformis f. sp. poae)] of bluegrass has been found on naturally infectedBerberis chinensis and B. koreana and ‘Emerald Carousel’, an interspecific hybrid between B. Koreana and B. thunbergii in Minnesota, USA. The wheat stripe rust pathogen (P. striiformis f. sp. tritici) has been found to infect barberry (B. chinensis, B. holstii, B. koreana, and B. vulgaris) and mahonia (Mahonia aquifolium) under controlled artificial conditions. In the U.S. Pacific Northwest, barberry and mahonia are essential for stem rust (Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici) but not essential for stripe rust. Under natural conditions, infection on barberry and mahonia are caused by P. graminis.

References

  • Zhao, J., et al. 2013. Identification of Eighteen Berberis Species as Alternate Hosts of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici and Virulence Variation in the Pathogen Isolates from Natural Infection of Barberry Plants in China. Phytopathology 103:927-34.
  • Wang, M.N., Chen, X.M. 2013. First report of Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium) as an alternate host for the wheat stripe rust pathogen (Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici) under artificial inoculation. Plant Disease 97:839.
  • Jin, Y., Szabo, L.J., and Carson, M. 2010. Century-old mystery of Puccinia striiformis life history solved with the identification of Berberis as an alternate host. Phytopathology 100:432-435.