Modelling fungal sink competitiveness with grains for assimilates in wheat infected by a biotrophic pathogen

摘要

Background and AimsExperiments have shown that biotrophic fungi divert assimilates for their growth. However, no attempt has been made either to account for this additional sink or to predict to what extent it competes with both grain filling and plant reserve metabolism for carbon. Fungal sink competitiveness with grains was quantified by a mixed experimental–modelling approach based on winter wheat infected by Puccinia triticina.