RESISTANCE POTENTIAL OF PAKISTANI WHEAT LANDRACES (TRITICUM AESTIVUM L.) AGAINST STRIPE RUST (PUCCINIA STRIFORMIS) AND KARNAL BUNT (TILLETIA INDICA)

Wheat is the staple food crop of Pakistan. Heavy losses in crop yield are caused by stripe rust and other foliar diseases. Karnal bunt (Tillecia indica) has also shown damage to wheat crop recently. The infested grains become unsuitable for human consumption. The current study was carried out to exploit indigenous landraces for stripe rust and Karnal bunt resistance for crop improvement. This two year study determined the field based partial resistance against the stripe rust in 204 wheat landraces based on average coefficient of infection (ACI). The average coefficient of infection showed that out of 204 landraces, 47 landraces showed resistance, 38 showed moderate whereas 119 were found to be highly susceptible against stripe rust. The same landraces were artificially inoculated at booting stage to determine their resistance against Karnal bunt. Only one landrace was found resistant against Karnal bunt, 13 moderately susceptible, 60 susceptible and 102 highly susceptible. Although the landrace found to be resistant against karnal bunt was highly susceptible against stripe rust. Only one landrace was identified to be highly resistant against stripe rust and moderately resistant against karnal bunt. Most of the landraces were highly susceptible against karnal bunt. This emphasizes the need to explore more germplasm against karnal bunt for the identification of resistant genotypes to be used in breeding programs.