01/21/09 Do some wheat varieties suppress root diseases?

Farm and Ranch January 21, 2009 Do some wheat varieties have a suppressive effect on root diseases while others do not? That is what some research at Washington State University is trying to determine. It is a project of Scot Hulbert, Cook Endowed Chair in Cropping Systems Pathology at WSU. Hulbert: "This is kind of a new idea that the wheat cultivars themselves can affect the soil microbiology and that some of these microbes are suppressive to different root diseases. Jim Cook and colleagues identified the bacteria that are suppressive to take-all for example. We think that there are also microbes that suppress Rhizoctonia, pythium. We don't know what they are yet. It may not be as simple as the bacteria that suppress take-all. Certainly rotation can affect soil microbiology and we think the different wheat varieties can also affect the soil microbiology in different ways and that is what we are starting to test now." Hulbert's research has grown PNW wheats in Rhizoctonia infected soil in pots in the greenhouse. After one month seedlings are removed and the pot is replanted with the same variety. The amount of Rhizoctonia in the pots is assayed after two and three cycles to examine the rate of decline. Field plots have now been established with promising varieties to see if their beneficial effects are seen in the field. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.