Virulence frequencies in oat crown rust in the United States from 2001 through 2005

In all, 680 single-pustule isolates of the oat crown rust pathogen, Puccinia coronata f. sp. avenae, were collected from cultivated and wild oat (Avena sativa and A. fatua, respectively) in the major oat-production areas of the United States from 2001 through 2005. They were tested for virulence on seedlings of differential oat lines in the greenhouse. In all, 171 races were found among the 357 isolates from the winter oat region of the United States, whereas 212 races were found among 323 isolates from the spring oat region. The crown rust population derived from winter oat in the southern United States was distinct from the spring oat population in the upper Midwest, although there was no virulence unique to either population. Virulence to Pc48 and Pc52 increased significantly in both regions during 2001 to 2005. Virulence to Pc59 increased and virulence to Pc53 decreased in the winter oat region during the same period. Many of the virulence associations previously reported in the U.S. oat crown rust population in the early 1990s also were found in both regions in this survey. Associations between virulence to the Pc genes were predominately positive in both regions; however, both positive and negative associations occurred more frequently in the winter oat region. Much of the virulence diversity in the oat crown rust population in the United States can be related to the deployment of resistance genes in commercial oat cultivars and virulence associations existing in the oat crown rust population. The mean virulence of the U.S. populations of crown rust continued to increase from 2001 to 2005. Genes for crown rust resistance derived from A. sterilis appear to be rapidly defeated, as has happened to Pc genes from A. sativa.