Fungi Associated with Root and Foot Rot of Winter Wheat and Populations of Cochliobolus sativus in the Texas Panhandle. L. P. Specht, Former Postdoctoral Research Associate, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Texas A&M University, Bushland 79012. C. M. Rush, Associate Professor of Plant Pathology, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Texas A&M University, Bushland 79012. Plant Dis. 72:959-963. Accepted for publication 28 June 1988. Copyright 1988 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-72-0959.

Cochliobolus sativus was the major pathogen responsible for root and foot rot of winter wheat in the Texas Panhandle. Fusarium acuminatum also caused root rot in many fields, but was much less important than C. sativus as a cause of foot rot. Fall and winter populations of C. sativus in 56 fields ranged from 5.3 to 394 propagules/g of soil, with a mean of 137. Significant correlations occurred between populations of C. sativus and both the incidence and severity of lesions on subcrown internodes of wheat seedlings.

Keyword(s): Cochliobolus sativus-selective medium, Fusarium graminearum Group 1, Fusarium spp., inoculum density-disease relationships, Microdochium bolleyi, Rhizoctonia spp.