Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
BMC PLANT BIOLOGY, cilt.26, ss.1-17, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
Global climate change, characterized by extreme
temperatures, drought, and irregular precipitation, has intensified
environmental stress conditions. In Middle Anatolia, harsh ecological
conditions and monoculture-based agricultural practices further increase the
incidence and severity of fungal diseases. The study aimed to determine the
effects of crown rot disease on the grain yield and some agronomic
characteristics of bread wheat cultivars. The experiments were conducted during
the 2024-25 growing season in Yozgat and Yerköy locations, using 35 registered
bread wheat cultivars, in a randomized block design and with three
replications. Fusarium culmorum inoculation was applied twice under field and
pot conditions; first on the seeds just before planting, second stem elongation
stage using the grain colonization method. Bread wheat cultivars showed disease
severity ranging from 6.3 to 54.2% under field conditions and 16.4–82.7% under
pot conditions. Under field conditions, Fusarium culmorum inoculation caused
9.3% loss in plant numbers in the plot during the post-emergence period and
11.3% loss during the post-winter period, as well as an average reduction of
6.2% in plant height, 5.3% in thousand-kernel weight, and 17.9% in grain yield.
In the pot experiment, Fusarium culmorum inoculation resulted decrease in flag
leaf chlorophyll content (5.4%), plant height (5.8%), and grain yield (7.8%).
The total physiological stress caused by fungal inoculation on the wheat
cultivars studied was assessed by spike yield. A standardized yield value was
then calculated for all spikes using a formula developed. Based on the
standardized yield, 77.8% and 42.1% yield reduction was noted in inoculated
spikes under field and pot conditions, respectively. These results indicate that
crown rot disease poses a serious risk to wheat production. Therefore,
developing strategies to prevent the disease and the losses it causes,
especially the breeding of resistant varieties, is of great importance.