Evaluation of Ethiopian Commercial Durum and Bread Wheat Varieties, Candidate and Differential Lines against Yellow Rust 2014-2016

Yellow rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici is one of the most damaging diseases of wheat in worldwide. In Ethiopia, grain yield loss in wheat cultivars ranges from 30 to 69%. The highland of Ethiopia is considered as a hot spot for the development of yellow rust diversity. This study was carried out to monitor commercial cultivars and advanced lines of bread and durum wheat for their resistance to the prevailing race population and to identify effective resistance Yr genes. One hundred four (104) commercial and candidate varieties of durum and bread wheat were tested 96.2% of them were infected with yellow rust at different severity level (trace to 90S). The peak average severity of stripe rust on commercial and candidate varieties of bread and durum wheat reached with the range of 53.3 to 63.3% and 0 to 37% respectively. The result of yellow rust differential line indicated that most of the Yr (yellow rust) gene are not effective across all locations like Yr1, Yr5, Yr6, Yr7, Yr8, Yr9, Yr 10, Yr17, Yr18, Yr26, Yr27 and YrA under field condition. Whereas Yr15 and Lassik (-Yr5) were effective genes to all the prevailing isolate for the last three cropping season.