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Evidence for Developmental Control of Ustilago striiformis by Apical Dominance in Perennially Infected Stolons of Agrostis palustris. Clinton F. Hodges, Associate Professor of Horticulture and Agronomy, Departments of Horticulture and Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames 50010; Phytopathology 63:146-148. Accepted for publication 9 August 1972. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-63-146.

Survival of apical and axillary buds of Agrostis palustris Hud. grown in organ culture was greater for healthy stolons than for stolons perennially infected with Ustilago striiformis (West.) Niessl. Survival of apical buds from healthy and stripe-smutted plants was greater than that of their first and second axillary buds, respectively; survival of third, fourth, and fifth axillary buds from all plants was greater than that of apical buds. Of the surviving apical buds from stripe-smutted plants, 35.8% produced stripe smutted stolons; the youngest axillary buds produced all healthy stolons; and the proportion of stripe-smutted to healthy stolons increased with each older axillary bud. The results suggest that growth of U. striiformis from nodes into axillary buds is controlled by apical dominance.