Pyrenophora teres: Population structure, virulence and aggressiveness in Southern Russia

The barley net blotch agent Pyrenophora teres (Died) Drechs. is one of the dominant fungal pathogens in agricultural crops worldwide. Here we aim to study the aggressiveness and virulence of P. teres populations collected at different ontogenesis stages (BBCH 30 and BBCH 47) from winter barley cultivars of various resistance types: moderately resistant, moderately susceptible and highly susceptible. We observed a direct proportional relationship between cultivar resistance and the aggressiveness of P. teres populations collected in both growth phases of the host plant. The isolates collected at an early stage of host plant development have a large difference in aggressiveness criteria: colony growth rate, sporulation intensity, latency period, plant damage degree, and the number of identified races. At the BBCH 30 growth stage, the growth rate of fungus colonies selected from a resistant cultivar is 1.2 times higher than that of a susceptible cultivar. The growth rate of colonies selected from resistant and susceptible cultivars in the earlier BBCH 30 stage is 1.04 times higher than the growth rate of colonies selected from the later phase. The sporulation intensity of fungal populations selected from a resistant cultivar is higher than that of populations selected from a susceptible cultivar (for BBCH 30–5.4 times, for BBCH 47–4.0 times); and it is 1.3 times higher in an earlier phase of plant development. Correlation between colony growth rate and spore formation rate in the BBCH 30 is r = 0.4. A high correlation level (r = 0.9) and notable difference between the variants were revealed when studying the duration of the latent period. The average value of plant damage by the P. teres from resistant cultivar is 4 times higher than from the susceptible cultivar in the BBCH 30 stage; and 12 times – in the BBCH 47 stage. There is a moderate negative correlation between the plant damage degree and the number of races identified from the fungal population, r = −0.59 for the BBCH 30, r = −0.8 for the BBCH 47. The number of races identified from P. teres populations collected in the late phase of plant growth was one third less. Our study helped to acquire new knowledge about intrapopulation processes under the influence of various factors – plant growth stage and cultivar genotype. The results obtained are the basis for the development of adaptive-integrated techniques for managing populations of the hemibiotrophic pathogen, barley net blotch.