Screening tall fescue for resistance to Rhizoctonia solani and Rhizoctonia zeae using digital image analysis

Brown patch, caused by Rhizoctonia solani, is a destructive disease on tall fescue. Compared with R. solani, Rhizoctonia zeae causes indistinguishable symptoms in the field but varies in geographic distribution. This may contribute to geographic variability observed in the resistance response of improved brown patch resistant cultivars. This study examined R. solani and R. zeae susceptibility of four cultivars, selected based on brown patch performance in the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP), and nine plant introductions (PIs). Twenty genotypes per Pl/cultivar were evaluated by using four clonal replicates in a randomized complete block design. Plants were inoculated under controlled conditions with two repetitions per pathogen. Disease severity was assessed digitally in APS Assess, and analysis of variance and correlations were performed in SAS 9.3. Mean disease severity was higher for R. solani (65%) than for R. zeae (49%) (P = 0.0137). Interaction effects with pathogen were not significant for PI (P = 0.0562) but were for genotype (P < 0.001). Moderately to highly resistant NTEP cultivars compared with remaining PIs exhibited lower susceptibility to R. zeae (P < 0.0001) but did not differ in susceptibility to R. solani (P = 0.7458). Correlations between R. solani and R. zeae disease severity were not significant for either PI (R = 0.06, P = 0.8436) or genotype (R = 0.11, P = 0.09). Breeding for resistance to both pathogens could contribute to a more geographically stable resistance response. Genotypes were identified with improved resistance to R. solani (40), R. zeae (122), and both pathogens (26).