Diseases
Epichloe typhina Tul. - Choke Disease
Systematic position.
Class Ascomycota, order Hypocreales, family Clavicipitaceae, genus Epichloe. (Hawksworth et al, 1995). E. typhina causes the Choke Disease.Biological group.
Hemibiotrophic pathogen.Biology and morphology.
Disease appears as dense yellow stroma embracing stems. Asci and ascospores develop in peritecia formed within covers (conidial stroma). Asci are cylindrical, narrowing downward, 130-200 x 7-10 mkm in size. Ascospores are yellowish, in first one-celled and then with numerous septa, 100-160 x 1.5 mkm in size. Pathogen is preserved as mycelia on plant residues.Distribution.
In nature E. typhina infects mainly cereal grasses (Dactylis glomerata, Phalaris arundinacea, Agrostis vulgaris, Phleum pratense etc.), occurring rarely on bread cereals. An evidence of the Choke Disease on wheat was registered in 1921 in Novgorod Region.Ecology.
Disease development is registered in lowlands under sufficient humidity.Economic significance.
Inasmuch as wheat is not the main plant-host for E. typhina, then the Choke Disease is a sparsely distributed wheat disease having secondary significance.Related references.
Gorlenko M.V. 1951. Wheat diseases.-Moscow.- 256 pp. (in Russian).Pshedskaya L.I. 1971. Physiological and ecological peculiarities of Epichloe typhina Tul. strains // Trudy instituta zashity rastenii. . Leningrad. - V.29. . P. 36-40 (in Russian).
Vladimirskaya N.N. 1928. To the biology of Epichloe typhina Tul. // Bulleten Postoyannogo Buro Vserossiiskikh Entomo-Fitopatologicheskikh S.ezdov. . Leningrad. - Vol.5. . No.3-4 - P. 335-347 (in Russian).
Hawksworth D.L., Kirk P.M., Sutton B.C., Pegler D.N. 1995. Dictionary of the fungi. - CAB International, - 616 p.