Karnal Bunt
Tilletia indica · fungus · also: partial bunt
AMSeed Archive · 1997
www.amseed.com/buntpos1.html and the web still cites it.
What you are reading is a modern resource on the same subject, independently researched by AMSeed,
not an archived ASTA publication. Read the original in the Wayback Machine.
- Issue type
- disease
- Seedborne
- Yes, travels on seed
- Resistance code
- -
- Affects
- Wheat
Symptoms
Individual kernels are partially converted to a dark, fishy-smelling mass of teliospores, usually only a fraction of kernels on a head, which makes field detection nearly impossible. The disease matters less for yield than for trade: many importing countries enforce zero tolerance.
Management
Managed almost entirely through quarantine, seed certification, and testing rather than in-field control. The 1996 Arizona detection triggered federal quarantines, National Survey testing of seed and grain lots, and a 1997 scare over Oregon ryegrass seed that spread the trade impact beyond wheat. The American Phytopathological Society's 1997 position statement, historically hosted on this domain, argued the pathogen's actual biology justified narrower quarantine measures than were imposed.
Varieties with documented resistance
No commercial varieties in the database carry documented resistance to this issue, management is cultural and (for seedborne pathogens) starts with tested, certified seed.
Deeper reading: Plant Health & Seedborne Disease
Sources & References
Evidence: 2 sources, all commercial catalogs. No independent reference documents this variety yet.
- Position Statement of the American Phytopathological Society on the Use of Quarantines for Wheat Karnal Bunt · American Phytopathological Society (1997), AMSeed Archive · archived original
- Karnal Bunt on Oregon Ryegrass Seed (urgent memorandum) · ASTA Lawn Seed Division (1997), AMSeed Archive · archived original