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First Report of Rust Caused by Puccinia carthami on Safflower in Oman

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is a minor, but culturally important crop in Oman; the dried flowers produce a pigment used in facial ornamentation. Although Oman is not a commercial producer of safflower, the region is a center of diversity and a source of genetic material for breeding programs. Production of oil from safflower has potential in Oman, where plant growth is prolific. In April 2004, leaf samples showing rust symptoms were collected from Mudhaibi, 100 km south of Muscat. Chestnut brown pustules covered both sides of the leaves, but not the stems, and yielded urediniospores and teliospores typical of the pathogen. Urediniospores were globose, 25 μm in diameter with three germ pores. Two-celled teliospores were chestnut brown, minutely verrucose, with a single, depressed germ pore in each cell. The pathogen was identified as Puccinia carthami Corda (voucher specimen deposited in the U.S. National Fungus Collections, BPI863557; nuclear ribosomal large subunit DNA voucher sequence deposited in GenBank, Accession No. AY787782). On the basis of phylogenetic analyses, the rust from Oman belongs to a complex of closely related Puccinia spp. that infects members of the Cardueae. Elsewhere, in addition to leaf infections, P. carthami causes foot and root disease of safflower (1) with teliospores surviving in the soil and on seed to initiate new infections. Germplasm is now being collected and will be screened for variation in response to rust infection.

Reference: (1) M. L. Schuster et al. Phytopathology 42:211, 1952.