A comprehensive survey was performed to assess fungal populations associated with crown and root rot of wheat throughout the main wheat-growing areas of Azerbaijan. Samples were taken from 76 fields; 630 fungal strains were isolated, identified, and evaluated for pathogenicity. The identification was conducted with morphological and molecular tools such as species-specific PCR and DNA sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and translation elongation factor 1-α (EF1-α) loci. The fungus found in the greatest number of fields (44) was Fusarium culmorum with 192 isolates, followed by F. acuminatum. Other Fusarium spp. isolates were identified: F. equiseti, F. pseudograminearum, F. graminearum, F. incarnatum, F. avenaceum, F. hostae, F. oxysporum, F. proliferatum, F. algeriense, and F. brachygibbosum. Bipolaris sorokiniana, Curvularia spicifera, Exserohilum pedicellatum, Nigrospora oryzae, and Rhizoctonia spp. isolates were also identified, associated with underground parts of wheat. Phylogenetic analyses based on ITS and EF1-α sequences of the isolates showed that the isolates belonging to the same species were clearly separated in the dendrogram. Pathogenicity assays revealed that F. culmorum, F. pseudograminearum, and F. graminearum were most aggressive; F. avenaceum, F. hostae, F. algeriense, B. sorokiniana, C. spicifera, and R. solani isolates were moderately aggressive; C. inaequalis, E. pedicellatum, and N. oryzae were weakly aggressive; and others were nonpathogenic. The result of this study exhibited the existence of a wide range of species associated with crown and root rot of wheat in Azerbaijan. Additionally, this is the first report of F. hostae, F. algeriense, C. spicifera, C. inaequalis, and N. oryzae as pathogens on wheat in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is the second country after Algeria in which F. algeriense was detected.

Staple crop yield, quality and sustainable production are critical for domestic food security in developing countries. In Tajikistan, both seed-borne diseases and protein quality impair the yield and the quality of the major staple crop, wheat. Here, we used a detailed two-year survey of fields on 21 wheat-producing farms in Tajikistan, combined with lab analyses on seed health and protein quality, to investigate the presence of seed-borne diseases and bread-making quality in Tajik wheat. Seed samples were collected for the analysis of: (i) the presence of common bunt (Tilletia spp.) using the centrifuge wash test, (ii) the major pathogenic fungi on/in the seed using the agar plate test and (iii) the protein amount and size distribution using size-exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography (SE-HPLC). Field occurrence of common bunt and loose smut was generally low (3 farms in year one (14%) showed common bunt occurrence), but the presence of fungi was observed microscopically on most seed samples (on seeds from 19 out of 21 farms = 91%). Tilletia laevis was the dominant agent in common bunt (present in 19 farms compared to T. tritici present in 6 farms). Altogether, 18 different fungi were identified from seed samples by microscopy. Protein composition, measured with high-performance liquid chromatography as protein amount and size distribution (known to correlate with bread-making quality), differed significantly between samples from different farms and years, although the farm type and land elevation of the farm were not the determinants of the protein composition. The presence of certain fungi on the seed correlated significantly with the protein quality and could then have an impact on the bread-making quality of the Tajik wheat. The presence of seed-borne diseases, a low protein content and weak gluten were the characteristics of the majority of the grain samples, mostly irrespective of farm type and farmer’s knowledge. For sustainable development of the Tajik farming systems, and to strengthen the food security of the country, the knowledge of Tajik farmers needs to be increased independently of farm type; in general, plant breeding is required and certified seeds need to be made available throughout the country.

Collection of wheat landraces (WLR) was conducted in Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey in 2010–2014. A representative subset of this collection was used in the current study and included 45 bread wheat landraces from Turkey, 19 from Iran, and 20 from Afghanistan. This material was supplemented by 73 modern cultivars and breeding lines adapted to semiarid conditions and irrigated conditions. Overall, 157 genotypes were tested in Turkey in 2018 and 2019 and in Afghanistan and Iran in 2019 under rainfed conditions to compare performance of WLR and modern material. The germplasm was genotyped using a high density Illumina Infinium 25K wheat SNP array and KASP markers for agronomic traits. The average grain yield ranged between 2.2 and 4.0 t/ha depending on the site and year. Three groups of landraces demonstrated similar average grain yield, though Afghanistan material was slightly higher yielding not only in Afghanistan but also in Turkey. Modern material outyielded the landraces in two environments out of four. The highest yielding landraces were competitive with the best modern germplasm. Frequency of gene Sus2-2B affecting 1000 kernel weight was 64% in WLR and only 3% in modern material. Presence of positive allele of Sus2-2B increased 1000 kernel weight by nearly 4%. Breeding strategy to improved landraces and modern cultivars is discussed.

Fusarium algeriense Laraba & O'Donnell has been recently described as a novel crown rot pathogen of wheat within F. burgessii species complex (Laraba et al. 2017). To our knowledge; there are no re...

In summer 2017, an intensive field survey was carried out in the major wheat growing areas of Azerbaijan to identify root and crown rot fungi associated with winter wheat. Plants showing root and crown rot symptoms were collected from 76 wheat fields and transferred to the laboratory. Small sections of necrotic or discolored root, crown and sub-crown tissues of the plants were surface disinfested with 1% sodium hypochlorite solution for 3 min, triple rinsed with sterile distilled water, dried on sterilized filter paper and placed on 1/5 strength potato dextrose agar amended with 25 mg/L of chloramphenicol and 100 mg/L streptomycin sulfate. Rhizoctonia spp. characteristically having obvious right-angled branching, septa near the branching point and constrictions at the base of hyphal branches, were consistently isolated from the samples representing six fields in Kürdəmir, Bərdə, İsmayilli, and Oğuz locations. Isolates were purified using the hyphal tip method and designed strains 3, 41, 82-85. For the det...

Non-satisfactory bread-making quality in wheat, a Tajik staple, hampers food security in Tajikistan and calls for plant breeding efforts. Here, methods were searched for to study grain protein composition, which is of use for Tajik plant breeding to improve bread-making quality. Size-exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography (SE-HPLC) was used to determine protein composition in 22 wheat varieties and breeding lines grown in two locations, which were then compared with the specific protein composition evaluated using electrophoresis and previous results from Tajik breeding and farmer-grown wheat. As Tajik wheat generally showed a large variation in high-molecular-weight glutenin subunit (HMW-GS) composition, with several allelic variants in the same line, single-seed selection was required when using this methodology in breeding for improved bread-making quality, and such an evaluation willalso result in more homogenous lines for protein composition. SE-HPLC was found to be a suitable tool to evaluate protein composition in the current Tajik wheat material with a heterogeneous protein composition, which might be advantageous for adaptation to the local and future climate. However, more easy-to-handle and high-throughput methods, e.g., marker-assisted selection, could be preferable alternatives for studying protein composition in wheat and for use in breeding for increased bread-making quality to increase food security in Tajikistan.