INHERITANCE OF LEAF RUST RESISTANCE IN WHEAT CULTIVARS MOROCCO AND LITTLE CLUB

Wheat cultivars Morocco and Little Club were considered to lack resistance genes to the leaf rust pathogen, Puccinia recondita f. sp. tritici, until several hundred cultures avirulent to one or both were obtained in a worldwide survey conducted by the Cereal Rust Laboratory, St. Paul, Minnesota. These cultures were obtained from many countries and were most commonly isolated from durum wheat. Two of these cultures are 89BGR4136-3, avirulent to Morocco, and 87ETH4090-4, virulent to some durum cultivars but avirulent to all but a few bread wheat cultivars. Progeny of a cross of two bread wheat cultivars Morocco/Little Club generally reported as susceptible to wheat leaf rust were evaluated. Morocco possesses a recessive resistance gene (LrMo) to the former isolate, whereas Little Club has a dominant resistance gene (LrLC) to the latter isolate.