Reaction of Twenty Cultivars of Tall Fescue to Stem Rust in Controlled and Field Environments

Stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis Pers.:Pers. subsp. graminicola Z. Urban, is a serious disease of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.). Reliance on field evaluation of resistance can be unreliable when climatic factors do not favor disease development. The objective of this study was to develop an effective controlled-environment screening procedure for stem rust resistance and to compare response to disease in controlled environments with disease responses in the field. Twenty cultivars of tall fescue were used to evaluate the infection responses to stem rust in 5- and 10-wk-old seedlings in controlled conditions and disease severity on the same plants grown in the field during three consecutive years [...]