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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2015, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (7): 155-162.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2014337

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An evaluation of the resistance of alfalfa cultivars to Stemphylium and Phoma leaf spot diseases

WANG Yu1, LIU Yi1, ZHOU Bin-Bin1, YUAN Qing-Hua1, *, ZHANG Li1, 2, PAN Long-Qi1, 2   

  1. 1.Institute of Animal Science of CAAS, Beijing 100193, China;
    2.College of Grassland Science, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China
  • Received:2014-08-20 Online:2015-07-20 Published:2015-07-20

Abstract: Forty alfalfa (Medicago sativa) cultivars were collected from China and abroad and inoculated with suspensions of different concentrations of spores from Stemphylium leaf spot and Phoma leaf spot diseases to evaluate the resistance of alfalfa to these two leaf spot diseases and identify the optimal inoculation concentration. The disease indices of 10 cultivars inoculated with these two fungi gradually increased with concentration increase of the spore suspensions. The appropriate inoculation concentrations for comparing cultivar resistance to Stemphylium and Phoma were 1×105 to 1×106 spores per milliliter and 1×106 spores per milliliter, respectively. With a concentration of 1×106 spores per milliliter in the inoculate, the disease indices of Stemphylium leaf spot in forty cultivars ranged from 3.33 to 35.83, while the disease indices of Phoma leaf spot ranged from 13.07 to 52.27. There were significant differences between the 40 cultivars (P<0.05). Fourteen cultivars were found to be resistant to Stemphylium leaf spot, including one highly-resistant cultivar-Gongnong No.2 and thirteen moderately-resistant cultivars. Only one cultivar, Rambler, from America was found to have moderate resistance to Phoma leaf spot.