Krikun, J., Agricultural Research Organization, Gilat Experimental Station, Mobile Post, Negev, 85 280, Israel, Department of Plant Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada
Bernier, C.C., Department of Plant Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada, Department of Plant Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada

The effect of growing wheat, barley, oat, pea, faba bean, mustard, and rapeseed in substrates individually infested by one of two Verticillium dahliae isolates from pea and potato was studied under greenhouse conditions. Observations were made on symptom development and effect of infection on the growth of plants. Isolations were made from above-ground parts of the plants and the roots examined for the presence of microsclerotia. A clear differentiation between the pea and potato isolates was expressed by two wheat cultivars, and by oat and barley. The pea isolate of V. dahliae was especially pathogenic to pea and faba bean. Both isolates infected mustard and rapeseed, reducing growth of the plants. All three gramineous species were systematically colonized by at least one of the isolates. Microsclerotia were found in the root systems of all crop/isolate combinations. Our results suggest that above-ground parts as well as root systems of the crop species reported in this paper, play a role in maintaining the pathogen. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.