EFFECT OF LEAF RUST DISEASE ON VARIOUS MORPHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL AND YIELD ATTRIBUTES IN BREAD WHEAT

Abstract

Leaf rust of wheat caused by Puccinia triticina is one of the most important diseases in the Pakistan and cause both yield and quality reduction. To investigate the effect of leaf rust of wheat on morph-physiological processes and grain yield, a field experiment was conducted using different wheat lines and varieties. The morpho-physiological attributes of the infected plant leaves were badly affected by the infection of leaf rust of wheat. The experiment comprised two treatments, one was inoculated with leaf rust spores manually and Morocco as a spreader while other keeping as a control. The results showed that there was -42.92, -23.72, -23.01, and -11.42, % decrease in chlorophyll content, flag leaf area, specific flag leaf area and relative water content in leaf rust (diseased) plot respectively while 21.24, 160.16% increase in relative dry weight and relative membrane permeability in the leaf rust plot. The results also revealed that leaf rust of wheat also reduces the yield components like number of grains per spike, spike length and 1000 grain weight (-52.38, -43.37 and -45.50 respectively). Thus, it could be concluded that leaf rust of wheat affect the morph-physiological process of wheat plants and badly reduce the yield as well.