Abstract
Fungal diseases of spring wheat (
Triticum aestivum L.) in Central Saudi Arabia (AlGassim region) were surveyed in 1984 and 1985. Over 95% of the wheat fields were planted to the Yecora Rojo cultivar. Root and crown rots (
Fusarium spp. and
Helminthosporium spp.); brown root rot (
Pythium spp.); leaf and head blotches (
Helminthosporium spp.) and take-all (
Gaeumannomyces sp.) were the most serious fungal diseases observed in the fields. Several
H. sativum isolates were pathogenic to seedling leaves of most or all local and imported wheat cultivars (22 cultivars). Numerous soil-borne fungi were isolated from wheat roots and tested for pathogenicity to Yecora Rojo seedlings in the greenhouse.
Alternaria sp.,
Helminthosporium spp. (two isolates),
Fusarium spp. (three isolates),
Pythium spp.,
Stemphylium spp. (two isolates) and
Gaeumannomyces sp. were pathogenic to the inoculated wheat plants in the greenhouse.