Some factors affecting the relative importance of hosts in the survival of Ophiobolus graminis

Abstract

Saprophytic survival of Ophiobolus graininis was studied in artificially infected straws and sods of wheat, oat, and barley. The estimated relative importance of these cereals in the survival of O. graminis varied with the method of assessment. Estimates based on sods also varied with plant density, time of inoculation, and the time interval between inoculation and inversion of sod. In artificially infected sods of grass species, O. graminis survived better on Bromus gussonii and Hordeum hystrix than on Phalnris minor, Avenue sterilis, and Ehrharta erecta; and on Lolium perenne, Bromus mollis, and B. sterilis than on Avena fntue and Vulpin myuros when inoculated at seeding and inverted 8 weeks later.