In glasshouse studies, small necrotic foliar flecks developed on globe artichoke, calendula, slender thistle, and winged slender thistle following inoculation with basidiospores of the microcyclic rust Puccinia xanthii. Fourteen inoculated cultivars of sunflower developed various types of symptoms: small necrotic and chlorotic flecks, underdeveloped telia, and small swollen petiole and stem lesions. Xanthium spinosum developed very slow-growing telia. In controlled environment studies, the four Xanthium spp. comprising the Noogoora burr (cocklebur) complex in Australia were highly susceptible to infection by P. xanthii. Maximum disease severity was observed after rust telia and X. occidentale plants were exposed to a dew period of 24 h. Less disease symptoms were observed in plants exposed to shorter (3, 6, 12 h) or longer (36 h) dew periods. Plants inoculated with several loads of inoculum (exposure to four inoculum plates) were less diseased than plants inoculated with fewer inoculum loads. Infected plants began to develop disease symptoms 5 days after inoculation, when grown at 25 °C. Infected plants developed very few small chlorotic flecks and no disease symptoms when grown at 10 and 40 °C, respectively. The flecks produced on plants kept at 10 °C developed into telia when plants were transferred to a glasshouse (25 °C). Repetitive inoculations of plants for 1 month increased the overall severity of the disease and this resulted in a reduction in plant height. Key words: Xanthium, host range, Puccinia xanthii, biological weed control.
Biological weed control – prospects and limitations
