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Researchers to study why Ramularia turns on barley


Scotland, United Kingdom
February 19, 2014

RamulariaResearchers have received over £1 million to identify why a fungus that initially lives in harmony on a barley plant, turns into a deadly pathogen which then attacks on its host.

Scientists from Scotland’s Rural College, The James Hutton Institute and Aarhus University in Denmark will work together to discover how and why the fungal disease Ramularia leaf spot becomes deadly around the time the barley plant flowers.

SRUC Plant Pathologist, Neil Havis, says: “We need to work out which genes are involved in the switch from a harmless fungus to harmful pathogen. This project aims to identify barley varieties that have a higher resistance to ramularia which will be very helpful for Scotland’s barley growers.”

The three year project has been funded by the Danish government who have seen a rise in the incidence of Ramularia in recent years. The group will be studying the genetic make up of those varieties grown commercially today, as well as older varieites. Although not currently favoured by growers these older lines could offer higher resistance to ramularia than some of the modern ones.

Ramularia is still a relatively new disease and currently growers in Scotland and the north of England are more badly affected by the disease than elsewhere in the UK. However it is becoming more widespread. The main symptoms of the disease are rectangular brown spots which are surrounded by a lighter yellow halo. Soon after the symptoms appear the plants can wither and die. Approximately 300,000 hectares of barley is grown in Scotland every year and yield losses are the equivalent of losing around 25,000 ha in a high disease year.

Scottish Government figures estimate that just under 2 million tonnes of barley was grown in Scotland in 2013 (spring barley: 1.7 million tonnes, winter barley: 294,000 tonnes). While this reflects a continuing rise there have been concerns recently that Scotland will struggle to produce enough of the crop to satisfy the rising demand.

At a recent agronomy workshop SRUC’s Julian Bell said that he was particularly concerned about what is predicted to be a significant fall in the amount of spring barley grown in the UK this year. We could see a fall of 37 per cent in England and 10 per cent in Scotland.

While much of Scotland’s barley is used for animal feed (55%), a large proportion – 35% - is used by the whisky industry, and with demand for both barley and whisky growing, it is vital Scotland is able to produce as healthy a crop as possible.

Neil says: “Barley is an incredibly important crop in Scotland, and around Europe. We hope this research will help us produce stronger varieties which can withstand Ramularia and so ensure we continue to harvest large amounts of barley every year.”

 



More news from:
    . Aarhus University
    . James Hutton Institute
    . Scottish Agricultural College (SAC)


Website: http://www.au.dk/en/

Published: February 21, 2014



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