Monday, November 13, 2006
70-9

Inheritance of Brown Patch Resistance in Colonial Bentgrass.

Stacy A. Bonos and Eric Weibel. Rutgers University, Dept. of Plant Biology and Pathology, 59 Dudley Rd., Foran Hall, New Brunswick, NJ 08901

Brown patch, caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia solani, is one of the biggest limitations to the wide-spread use of colonial bentgrass (Agrostis capillaris) for fairways in the temperate US.  The objectives of this study were to determine the narrow-sense heritability of brown patch resistance in colonial bentgrass and to evaluate inheritance characteristics of progeny from controlled crosses.   Inheritance characteristics such as the detection of major genes, heterosis, and maternal effects were determined by evaluating the disease severity of progeny from crosses between resistant and susceptible bentgrass clones.  Parental clones and progenies from crosses were established in a field trial in a randomized complete block design with four replications and inoculated with one isolate of R. solani applied at a rate of 0.25 g m-2 of prepared inoculum.  Significant differences were observed between parental clones and progenies.  This research will be important for future breeding efforts in colonial bentgrass and could improve the utilization of this species for turfgrass situations.