Specificity of the Bipolaris sacchari-Saccharum spp. Interaction. M. S. Kang, Associate Professor, Department of Agronomy, Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station, LSU Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge 70803. J. L. Dean, Research Plant Pathologist, USDA-ARS, Sugarcane Field Station, Canal Point, FL 33438. Plant Dis. 71:450-451. Accepted for publication 14 November 1986. Copyright 1987 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-71-0450.

Nine and eight sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) clones were inoculated with four and five isolates of Bipolaris sacchari, respectively. Interorganismal genetic techniques were used to study the specificity between Bipolaris sacchari and Saccharum spp. In both experiments, three corresponding gene pairs for low reaction in sugarcane and low pathogenicity in B. sacchari were postulated. Low-high infection type differences resulting from B. sacchari-Saccharum spp. interaction indicated specificity (gene-for-gene relationship) between the host and the pathogen.

Keyword(s): eyespot, host-parasite interaction.