Variation in the responses of rapeseed (Brassica napus and B. campestris) cultivars to blackleg (Leptosphaeria maculans) infection

Abstract

The responses of 53 cultivars of the rapeseed species Brassica napus and Brassica campestris to infection by three different populations of the blackleg fungus, Leptosphaeria maculans, were examined in a controlled environment. Significant variation in disease development was observed between cultivars as well as between fungal populations which had been derived from diseased stubble collected at widely separated sites in Western Australia. A large proportion of the cultivars tested were either susceptible or only slightly resistant to infection by each of the three fungal populations whereas only one cultivar, Zollerngold, was highly resistant to all fungal populations. Several other cultivars, however, were resistant to one population and susceptible or slightly resistant to the other two. In these cases, marked interactions between host and parasite were evident, some cultivars being substantially more resistant than others to infection by spores from a particular population.