FIELD ASSESSMENT OF COMMERCIAL WHEAT VARIETIES, ADVANCED LINES AND TRAP NURSERIES AGAINST YELLOW RUST IN SOUTH EAST ETHIOPIA

Wheat rusts caused by Puccinia spp. is economically significant foliar syndrome in the main wheat-growing areas of Ethiopia. Safeguard of wheat from rust diseases has very exceptional worth to be profitable and reduce hunger. Screening of wheat genotypes against rust and monitoring of race development and monitoring of variability in wheat rust pathogens by international trap nurseries is vital to mitigate rust impact. In this experiment, resistance to wheat yellow rusts of 119 wheat germplasm comprising varieties, advanced lines along with 19 international yellow rust trap rust nurseries were studied under natural infection in 2018-2019 years in different geographic zones of Ethiopia. The information of this finding revealed that majority of the test cultivars displayed susceptible reaction to the prevalent yellow rust races. However, few cultivars and candidate lines exhibited lower diseases severities. Among the differentials, Yr5+, Yr10 and Yr15 are still effective to the prevalent yellow rust races. Thus, those candidate wheat genotypes tested in this experiment and showed lower diseases severities will contribute a significant role to wheat breeding program in diversification and development of cultivars with durable or long lasting resistance.