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Techniques

A Method for Uniform Infection of Seedling and Adult Cereal Plants by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici. K. Mortensen, National Research Council postdoctorate fellow, Agriculture Canada Research Station, 195 Dafoe Road, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2M9, Present address of senior author: Department of Agriculture, Plant Industry Branch, Administration Building, Regina, Saskatchewan, S4S 0B1; G. J. Green(2), and J. Atkinson(3). (2)(3)Research scientist, and development technician, respectively, Agriculture Canada Research Station, 195 Dafoe Road, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2M9. Phytopathology 69:420-423. Accepted for publication 11 October 1978. Copyright 1979 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-69-420.

An inoculation chamber was constructed to inoculate seedling and adult plants of cereals uniformly with urediospores. Plants were rotated in one direction while revolving in the opposite direction in a cloud of spores of known concentration. Comparison of three liquid spore carriers and dry spores showed that an inert fluorochemical, FC-40, was the most satisfactory. Use of the inoculation chamber, the fluorochemical spore carrier, and standardized conditions for plant growth and incubation gave infection rates with standard deviations of 7–16% of the mean for seedlings and 10–36% of the mean for adult plants.