Crown rust conundrum:ALTERNATE HOSTS THREATEN RESISTANCE LONGEVITY

摘要

SOME GROWERS ARE most familiarwith oats as a cover crop but crown rust doesn't discriminate - whether for pony oats, human consumption, or as cover crop, this disease can have a devastating impact on the crop. Oat breeders are faced with a new challenge as crown rust is proving a real issue to breeding advancements.Using oats as a cover crop may increase the level of crown rust inoculum in the fall, says Albert Tenuta, field crop plant pathologist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs; but, as long as there aren't alternate hosts for the disease to move to, the disease can't survive the winter. Although crown rust is quite specific to oats, it will also infect some other grasses, such as rye and fescue, but management of European buckthorn is critical, he says.