Shtienberg, D., Dept. of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, 76100, Israel

The effects of Septoria tritici blotch on spring wheat were incorporated into a crop growth simulator and the model was then used to evaluate the interrelationships between moisture and disease stresses on wheat yields under semi-arid conditions. Simulation experiments revealed that moisture availability plays a role in determining the relationship between disease and yield. In a season when precipitation was distributed evenly, a non-diseased crop yielded more than diseased crops. Yield reductions in diseased crops were related to the severity of epidemics; the relationship between disease and yield was inverse and linear. In a season when water was scarce during the stage of kernel-filling, crops with mild or moderate disease epidemics (apparent infection rate of a logistic model, r, of 0.025 or 0.05 per unit) yielded more than the non-diseased crop. The yield of the crop with a severe epidemic (r of 0.1 per unit) was reduced substantially and the relationship between disease and yield was parabolic. The parabolic relationship was linearized when additional precipitation was simulated in the model. © 1991 Springer Science + Business Media B.V.