Survey of Wheat Rot Disease and its Causal Agents in the Ghab Region of Syria

Matar, M., Q. El-Rahya and A.K. Mulhem. 2024. Survey of Wheat Rot Disease and its Causal Agents in the Ghab Region of Syria. Arab Journal of Plant Protection, 42(1): 32-42. https://doi.org/10.22268/AJPP-001218 A field survey was carried out to investigate the spread of wheat root rot disease and determining its causes in 128 fields planted with wheat in several locations in the Al-Ghab Plain (Shataha, Jub Ramleh, Suqaylabiyah, Mahrada) in central Syria during 2018-2019 and 20192020 growing seasons. The results obtained showed a high incidence of the disease in both seasons, reaching 53.12 and 42.18%, respectively. The infection rate and severity varied in the studied areas and sites and reached a maximum of 33.24 and 25.93%, respectively, in Suqaylabiyah area during the 2019 season. Isolation from roots and crown of infected wheat plants showed the association of a number of fungi, all belonging to the genus Fusarium: F. solani, F. culmorum, F. oxysporum, and F. graminearium mean frequencies of 58.55, 17.98, 10.52 and 9.76%, respectively, in all study sites. Results obtained also confirmed that durum wheat is more susceptible to crown and root rot diseases than bread wheat, as the average frequency of the disease among durum wheat fields was 40.62 and 34.37% in both seasons, respectively, compared to 12.5% and 7.81% for bread wheat. Pathogenicity test results also confirmed the virulence of F. culmorum and F. solani, which were most common on wheat cultivars Cham7 (durum) and Cham10 (aestivum) under artificial in vitro infection conditions. The pathogenicity of both fungi varied according to the wheat cultivar, and F. culmorum had the highest pathogenicity in both the durum and the aestivum cultivars.