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STATUS OF COMPLETE BUNT OF WHEAT IN PAKISTAN

S.A. JAMIL KHAN, M. JALALUDDIN*, A. GHAFFAR* AND M. ASLAM

Abstract: Complete bunt of wheat is an important and destructive disease of wheat in the upland areas of Pakistan where an incidence as high as 25 % has been recorded (Hafiz., 1996; Hassan, 1971) with losses up to 33% in individual fields (Kausar, 1955). Two allied species of Tilletia viz., T. laevis Kühn (syn, T. foetida (Wall.) Liro) and T. tritid (Bjerk.) Winter (syn. T. caries (Dc.) Tul., have been reported by Malik & Virk (1968), Hassan (1971) and Mirza & Qureshi (1978) whereas only T. tritici has been mentioned as the cause of bunt of wheat in Pakistan by Hafiz (1986). An extensive survey of upland areas of Balochistan, NWFP and the Punjab was therefore carried out to determine the present status of complete bunt of wheat caused by T.laevis and or T.tritici.

Crop Diseases Research Institute Pakistan Agricultural Research Centre, University Campus, Karachi-75270, Pakistan.
Department of Botany, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan.