RESPONSE OF EGYPTIAN WHEAT CULTIVARS TO KERNEL BLACK POINT DISEASE ALONGSIDE GRAIN YIELD

Abstract

During two successive growing seasons, survey of kernel black-point disease in seventeen Egyptian wheat cultivars recorded the disease as a rate of infection ranged from 1.75% to 64.07% and as disease indices ranged from 0.29% to 19.48% in mean of both seasons. The most susceptible wheat cultivars were Sakha 8 and Sakha 93 reached 64%, 63% kernel infection, and 17.13%, 19.5% disease index, respectively. The minimum incidence of black-point was observed on the cultivars Sohag 3 (1.75% kernel infection, 0.29% disease index), Beni-Suef 3 (2.67% kernel infection, 0.49% disease index), Giza 165 (3.34% kernel infection, 0.59% disease index) and Beni-Suef 1 (10.09% kernel infection, 2.30% disease index). The bread wheat cultivars (Sakha 8, 61, 69, 93, 94, Gemmiza 5, 7, 9 and 10), cultivated at the Northern Governorates locating in the Nile-Delta were observed as more susceptible to the black-point disease than the durum wheat cultivars (Sids 1, Sohag 3, Beni-Suef 1, 3, Giza 164, 165, 168 and 170) cultivated at the Middle and Southern Governorates of Egypt. The durum wheat cultivars, Sohag 3, Beni-Suef 1, 3, and Giza 165 with the minimum incidence of black-point, may be useful as a germplasm resource for black point resistance.