Relationship Between Eyespot Severity and Productivity of Winter Wheat in Lithuania

Cereal yield loss from eyespot directly depends on the severity of the disease. The aim of this study was to establish the relationship between eyespot damage in winter wheat and components of yield of winter wheat cultivars Ada, Mulan and Tukan in Lithuania in the 2011/2012 cropping season. Several eyespot did not decrease the grain number per ear cv. of Tukan while for cvs. Ada and Mulan the decrease was 14 and 15%, respectively; however, the grain number per ear of moderately eyespot-affected stems of cv. Ada did not differ from that of visually healthy stems. For cv. Ada, the grain weight per ear of moderately affected stems was 5.8% less and that of severely affected stems was 12.8% less than that of healthy stems, while for cv. Mulan the decrease in grain weight per ear was 40.3 and 35.5%, respectively and for cv. Tukan it was 59.0 and 63.2%, respectively for moderately and severely affected stems. The decrease in thousand grain weight of moderately eyespot-affected stems of cv. Ada was less (6.5%) compared with that of cv. Mulan (31.3%) and cv. Tukan (55.8%). Thousand grain weight of severely eyespot-affected stems of cvs. Ada, Mulan and Tukan was 22.2, 26.0, and 65.0%, respectively, less than that of healthy stems. Screening of healthy, moderately and severely affected plants of the winter wheat varieties Ada, Mulan and Tukan for grain number per ear, grain weight per ear and TGW revealed that these varieties differed in tolerance to eyespot