ISOLATION OF R-TYPE PROGENY OF TAPESIA-YALLUNDAE FROM APOTHECIA ON WHEAT STUBBLE IN ENGLAND

Apothecia of Tapesia yallundae were collected from a set-aside straw stubble site in Lincolnshire in March 1993. Single ascospore isolates were obtained which produced colonies with morphologies and growth rates characteristic of the R-pathotype of Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides. Isolates were confirmed to be R-type by the use of randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. These observations confirm that T. yallundae is the teleomorph of the R-type of P. herpotrichoides and represent the first detection of the sexual stage of the R-type in the UK.