Resistance assessment of durum wheat landraces to Fusarium foot rot

Seeds of thirty-six Sicilian durum wheat accessions obtained from organic crops were assayed in vitro for evaluate their ability to resist to Fusarium culmorum during germination phase. Three conidia concentrations (treatments) of the pathogen were used to artificially inoculate seeds both of accessions, and of three modern varieties (Duilio, Iride and Saragolla) the latter used as a control. Perciasacchi2 (P2) both in 1 x 10(3) and 1 x 10(4) CFU/mL(-1) treatments, Russello Ibleo1 (RI1) in 1 x 10(5) CFU/mL(-1) treatment and Timilia reste bianche1 (Trb1) in the uninoculated treatment, significantly increased seed germination in comparison with the controls. Overall, twenty accessions stimulated significantly shoot height in the 1 x 10(3) CFU/mL(-1) treatment, and Timilia reste bianche2 (Trb2) was the most effective in improving shoot height (+139%). Giustalisa (G) both in 1 x 10(4) and in 1 x 10(5) CFU/mL(-1) treatments increased mean seedling shoot height i.e., respectively + 104.5% and +65.0%. Russello4 (R4), in the uninoculated treatment, showed increased (+19.2%) but not statistically significant shoot height, compared to control. Russello3 (R3) in the 1 x 10(3) treatment as well as in the 1 x 10(4) CFU/mL(-1) treatment significantly improved root length (+33.6% and +65.3%). Russello4 (R4) was the most effective in improving root length both in the 1 x 10(5) CFU/mL(-1) and in the uninoculated treatments, i.e., respectively + 60.2 and + 30.9%. Seedling vigour index was significantly greater for R3 following both 1 x 10(3) and 1 x 10(4) CFU/mL(-1) treatments and for R4 succeeding 1 x 10(5) CFU/mL(-1) treatment. These results indicate potential of Sicilian durum wheat landraces, analyzed in this investigation, to resist to Fusarium foot rot during seed germination phase and suggest that accessions may represent a promising source of gene-pool variability in the search for resistance factors to F. culmorum.