Wheat stem rust caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici = Pgt play an important role in wheat production throughout the world with rusts disease of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

1. Detection of Ug99 (TTKSK) race of
stem rust fungus in Egypt
Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) Technical Workshop, Sydney, Australia, September 17-20, 2015
Atef Shahin1, Moustafa Azab2 and Doaa El-Nagar1
Plant Pathology Research Institute1 and Wheat Research Program2, ARC, Egypt

2. International collaborators
• Ravi Singh, CIMMYT
• Mogens Hovmøller, GRRC
• Kumarse Nazari, ICARDA
• Dave Hodson, CIMMYT
• Yue Jin, USDA-ARS
• Les J. Szabo, USDA, ARS
• Mehran Patpour, GRRC
• Maria Newcomb Minnesota, US
• Pablo Olivera, Minnesota, US
Cooperation between the wheat pathologists and breeders in
Egypt and International research center and labs

3. Outline
• Wheat in Egypt
• Historical and current importance to stem rust in
Egypt
• Race identification of stem rust in Egypt
• Resistance of the cultivars to stem rust
• Detection of Ug99 (TTKSK) race in Egypt
• Conclusion
• Future plan

4. Bread wheat improvement in Egypt
Grain yield; 8.9
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Hendi62
Mabrouk
Giza139
Giza144
Giza150
Giza155
Giza156
Sakha8
Sakha157
Sakha61
Sakha69
Sakha160
Sakha162
Sakha163
Sakha164
Sakha92
Gemmeiza1
Sids1
Sids4
Sids6
Sids7
Gemmeiza3
Gemmeiza5
Giza168
Sakha93
Gemmeiza7
Gemmeiza9
Sakha94
Gemmeiza10
Sids12
Grainyield(ton/ha)
Cultivars
Adel Hagras 2014. J. Agric. Res. Kafrelsheikh Univ., 40 (3):517-539.

5. Released wheat varieties in Egypt
(1920 - 2013)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
3 4
11
25
43
0 0
3 4
7
BW
DW

6. Wheat Production Trend in Egypt
(1960 – 2014)
Source: USDA (http://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?country=et&commodity=wheat&graph=production)
Production, 8300
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
Production(,000MT)
Production Year

7. Giza 167
Gemmeiza5
Sids1
Beni Sweif1
Sakha93
Shandaweel1
Beni Sweif6
Sakha61
Gemmeiza10
Gemmeiza11
Sids13
Beni Sweif4
Beni Sweif5
Sohag3
Giza168
Sakha94
Gemmeiza7
Sids12
Giza 171
Misr1
Misr2
Some representative Egyptian wheat cultivars

8. Wheat Rust in Egypt
• Wheat in Egypt suffers from wheat
rust diseases
– Yellow rust or Stripe rust
– Stem rust or Black rust
– Leaf rust or Brown rust
• Egypt wheat breeder and pathologist
are interested in searching for new
sources of resistance to wheat rust
• Control is through genetic resistance ,
and foliar fungicides

9. Variety
Year of
release
Year of
epidemic
Rust
Hindi D & Tosson 1921 1947 Stem rust
Giza 139 1945 1954 Leaf rust
Giza 144 1958 1967 Yellow rust
Sakha 8 1976 1986 Yellow rust
Sakha 8 & Sakha79 1976 1987 Stem rust
Gemmiza 1& Giza 163 1994 & 1989 1995 Yellow rust
Sakha 69 1980 1997 Yellow rust
Epidemics of Wheat rusts in Egypt
In Egypt wheat stem rust disease was epidemic in 1987, for Sakha-79 and Sakha-8,
which the loss in grain yield due to early stem rust infection recorded 33.5%, Bassiouni
et al. (1987).

10. Historical background and current importance
to stem rust in Egypt
In Egypt, the first reports on physiologic specialization of wheat stem rust incited by
Puccinia graminis tritici was carried out in 1949 (Abdel-Hak, 1953), who identified 15
physiologic races at different locations in Egypt i.e. 9, 11, 14, 17, 19, 21, 24, 42, 53,
59, 69, 88, 123, 279 (E2) and (E1). Later on (Abdel-Hak and Kamel, 1966) so far,
recorded races i.e. 117, 133, 186, 194 and 249 in Egypt.

11. Greenhouse
• Seedling evaluation of wheat
accessions against stem rust.
• Rust spore /isolate increase and
maintenance
• Wheat stem rust race identification
• Gene efficacy and virulence formula for
the resulted race.
• Gene postulation within wheat
cultivars.
• Identification of Sr’s genes using
molecular marker.
Field and greenhouse activities for stem rust
• Losses due to stem rust
• Evaluation of commercial wheat
varieties and monogenic lines.
• Close cooperation with the wheat
research program.
• Cooperation with ICARDA and
CIMMYT.
• Evaluation of the effective wheat
rusts fungicides.
Field

12. Egyptian Wheat
Trap Rust Nursery
(EWTRN)
Locations: 16
Entries : 130

13. Standard and supplemental differential varieties

14. The race nomenclature system
This system was adopted by (Roelfs and
Martens, 1988 and McVey et al., 1997) the
set included 20 differential hosts each with
single stem rust gene i.e. in 5 subsets in the
following order,(1) Sr5, Sr21, Sr9e and Sr7b,
(2) Sr11, Sr6, Sr8a and Sr9g, (3) Sr36, Sr9b,
Sr30 and Sr17, (4) Sr9a, Sr9d, Sr10, SrTmp
and (5) Sr24, Sr31, Sr38, and SrMcN. Races
were designated by a five letters code [Pgt-
code] such as TTKSK, TTKTK,….
Infection types (IT) were recorded for each
line in the form avirulence/virulence of
pathogen cultures which were determined by
low (IT) [L]and high (IT) [H]. Determination of
races were based on the reaction of the
inoculated differential hosts.
Pgt-code for the 20 [Pgt] differential hosts for (Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici)

15. Low IT [L] High IT [H]
Stem Rust reaction record as infection types [ITs] and scoring
14 days after inoculation using the 0 – 4 scale adopted by
Stakman et al., 1962.
Infection Types

16. Pgt-
Code
Virulence (ineffective Sr genes)
No. of
resistance
response
No. of
susceptible
response
Virulence
(%)
BBBPB 9b,9a,10,Tmp 16 4 20
BBBBC McN 19 1 5
CCGBC 7b, 9g,9b,McN 16 4 20
GHMLB 21,6,9a,36,17,9e 14 6 30
NGRBB 5,9e,7b,6,36,9b 14 6 30
LDBBB 5,8a 18 2 10
LCBDC 5,9g,10, McN 16 4 20
LCPDB 5,9g,36,30,17,10 14 6 30
NGRBB 5,9e,6,36,9b,17 14 6 30
TKSTB 5,21,9e,7b,6,8a,9g,36,9b,30,9a,9d,10,Tmp 6 14 70
TTKTF 5,21,9e,7b,11,6,8a,9g,9b,30,17,9a,9d,10,Tmp,38,McN 3 17 85
TTKTC 5,21,9e,7b,11,6,8a,9g,9b,30,17,9a,9d,10,Tmp,McN 4 16 80
Some identified Pgt races and its virulence formula in
Egypt, 2014/2015 growing season.

17. Variety Pedigree/Cross Name
Season/Stem rust
responses
2012/13 2014/15
Misr 1 Oasis/SKauz//4*Bcn/3/2*Pastor 10R 30S
Misr 2 Skauz/Bav92 Skauz/Bav92 10R 20S
Giza 168 MRL/BUC//Seri.CM93046-8M-0Y-0M-2Y-0B 5MS 20S
Giza 171 Sakha93/Gemmeiza9 S 6-1GZ-2GZ-2GZ-0S 5R 10MR
Sakha 93 Sakha 92 / TR810328 10S 10S
Sakha 94 OPATA / RAYON // KAUZ 5S 10S
Gemmeiza-7 CMH74A.630/5X//SERI 82/3/AGENT 5MS 10S
Gemmeiza-10 Maya 74"S"/on / 1160- 147 /3/ Bb / G11 /4/ chat "S"/5/ crow "S" 10MS-S 10S
Gemmeiza-11 BOW''S'' /KVZ''S''// 7C/SERI82/3/GIZA168 /SKHA61 R 5S
Sids-6 Maya”S”/Mon”S”//CMH74A.592/3/Sakha8*2SD/10002 60S 50S
Sids-12 BUC//7C/ALD/5/MAYA74/ON//1160-
147/3/BB/GLL/4/CHAT''S''/6/MAYA/VUL//CMH74A.630//4*SX.
10S 20S
Sids-13 AMAZ 19=KAUZ"S"//TSI/SNB"S". R R
Beni Sweif-4 DIPPERZ/BUSHEN3 R 10S
Beni Sweif-5 DIPPERZ/BUSHEN3CDSS92B1281-M-OY-OM-OY-3B-OY-OSD. R 5S
Beni Sweif-6 Jo”s”/AA”s”//Fg”s”. R TrS
Sandawel-1 SITE/ MO/4/NAC//3*PVN/3/MiRLO R 10S
Response of some Egyptian wheat cultivars to stem rust
reaction under field conditions during 2010 and 2015

18. Cultivar Gene
Season / Stem rust responses
2012 2013 2014
ISr5-Ra CI 14159 Sr5 5S 30S 5S
ISr6-Ra CI 14163 Sr6 30S 40S 30S
Na 101/6*Marquis Sr7a 10S 40S 30S
ISr7b-Ra CI 14165 Sr7b 10S 20S 30S
CI 14167/9*LMPG-6 DK04 Sr8a 5MS-S 10S 40S
Barieta Benvenuto (CI 14196) Sr8b 5S 20S 60S
ISr9a-Ra CI 14169 Sr9a 20S 30S 10S
Prelude*4/2/ Marquis*6/Kenya 117A Sr9b 5S 60S 30S
ISr9d-Ra CI 14177 Sr9d 30S 20S 30S
Vernstein PI 442914 Sr9e 10S 60S 40S
Chinese Spring*7/Marquis 2B Sr9g 10MS-S 30S TrS
W2691Sr10 CI 17388 Sr10 20MS-S 20S 30S
Lee/6*LMPG-6 DK37 Sr11 TrS 40S 20S
Chinese Spring*5/Thatcher 3B Sr12 40S 60S 60S
Prelude*4/2/ Marquis*6/Khapstein Sr13 TrS 30S 20S
W2691*2/ Khapstein Sr14 20S 60S 20S
Prelude*2/Norka Sr15 20MR-MS 50S 50S
Thatcher/CS (CI 14173) Sr16 10S 60S -
Prelude/8*Marquis*2/2/Esp 518/9 Sr17 10S 40S 30S
Little Clube/Sr18Mq Marquis"A" Sr18 30S 50S 50S
94A 236-1 Marquis"B" Sr19 10S 40S 40S
94A 237-1 Marquis"C" Sr20 30S 50S 50S
McNair 701 SrMcN 20S 20S 60S
Stem rust responses of differential genotypes in Egypt at adult stage over
three cropping seasons (2012 - 2014) at Sakha Agric. Res. Stn. In Egypt

19. Cultivar - Gene
Season/Stem rust responses
2012 2013 2014
T. Monococcum/8*LMPG-6 DK13 Sr21 TrS 10S 40S
Mq*6//Stewart*3/RL 5244 Sr22 10S 50S 50S
Exchange CI 12635 Sr23 10S 30S 10S
LcSr24AG Sr24 5MR 40MR TrR-MR
Agatha (CI 14048)/9*LMPG-6 DK16 Sr25 10MR 10S 30S
Eagle Sr26 McIntosh Sr26 20MR 30MR 5MR-MS
WRT 238-5 (1984) Roelfs Sr27 5MR 40MR 20S
Kota RL71 Sr28 20S 50S 20S
Prelude/8*Marquis/2/Etiole de Choisy Sr29 20S 50S 20S
Selection from Webster F3:F4 #6 Sr30 5S 30S 50S
Sr31 (Benno)/6*LMPG-6 DK42 Sr31 5MR 10MR-MS 40MR-MS
ER5155 S-203 (1995) Roelfs Sr32 10R 40MR 10MS
RL 5405 (1192) Kerber Sr33 5MS 10S 30S
RL 6098 (1997) Dyck Sr34 10S 40S 20S
RL 6099 (1995) Dyck Sr35 TrS 20S 40S
W2691SrTt-1 CI 17385 Sr36 5S 30S 30S
Cook Sr36 TrR 10R 10MS
Prelude*4/Line W (W3563) Sr37 TrS 30S 50S
Trident Sr38 Sr38 TrS 5S 10MR-MS
TAM 107 Sr1RS-AM 20S 50S 50S
CsSSrTmp SrTmp 10S 20S 30S
Bt/Wld SrWld-1 10S 20S 50S
Pavon 76 Sr2 complex 10MR 40MR 5MR-MS
Enkorn Sr21 TrR 10MR 5MR-MS
Seri 82 Sr31 5R 5MR 5MS
PBW343=Attila with Sr31 Sr31 10R 30MR-MS 30MR-MS
Stem rust responses of differential genotypes in Egypt at adult stage over three
cropping seasons (2012 - 2014) at Sakha Agric. Res. Stn. In Egypt

20. Stem rust symptoms on some entries of STEMRRSN and 10th ISRTN-15

21. Detection of Ug99 (TTKSK) race of stem rust fungus in Egypt
- Field observations
Idea of sending Sr31 infected samples from Egypt
was generated in 2nd International wheat stripe rust
symposium, Regional Cereal Rust Research Center,
Izmir, Turkey 28 April - 1 May, 2014., discussion
between David Hodson, Mogen Homveler and Atef
Shahin.
- During April 2014, high levels of stem rust infection
were observed on entries in wheat (Triticum
aestivum) grown in a nursery at Sakha Agricultural
Research Station in Egypt.
- Samples, collected from rusted stems of wheat
cultivars, i.e. PBW343, and (Benno)/6*LMPG-6 DK42
which are known to carry stem rust resistance Sr31.

22. Code Host Varity Sample date Location Disease severity
14EGY001 (Benno)/6*LMPG-6 DK42 08/05/2014 Sharqia MS
14EGY002 (Benno)/6*LMPG-6 DK42 08/05/2014 Sharqia MS
14EGY003 PBW343(8STEMRRSN) 03/05/2014 Sakha MR-MS
14EGY004 PBW343(GENETIC STOCK) 03/05/2014 Sakha MR-MS
14EGY005 PBW343(IBWSN) 03/05/2014 Sakha MS-S
14EGY006 (Benno)/6*LMPG-6 DK42 05/05/2014 Sharqia MS
Sr31 infected samples from Egypt
In the 2014 crop season in Egypt, the presence of virulence to Sr31 in Egypt was
suspected based on preliminary field observations of Sr31 planted as international stem
rust trap nursery at :
1) Sakha Agricultural Research Station in Kafrelsheikh (31.094059°N, 30.933899°E).
2) Al- Sharqia (30.601400°N, 31.510383°E ).
3) Nubaria (30.91464°N, 29.95543°E).

23. The presence of Sr31-virulence in Egypt in the 2014 growing
season was supported by three independent observations:
 Stem rust scores of up to 30% stem/leaf coverage (30MR
to 30S). This was recorded by Dr. Atef Shahin, Sakha
Agricultural Research Station, at the time of sampling on
wheat cultivar PBW343, which is known to carry stem
rust resistance Sr31.
 Race typing of samples from Sr31-resistant wheat
confirmed the presence of Sr31-virulence, suggesting
the presence of Ug99. Tests were based on independent
samples which were repeated 2-3 times. The presence
of Sr31- virulence was confirmed beyond any doubt.
 DNA/PCR test originally developed by the Cereal Disease
Lab, Minnesota, USA, was positive for the considered
isolates carrying Sr31-virulence, which confirmed the
presence of the Ug99 race group.
Mogens Støvring Hovmøller
Global Rust Reference Center
www.wheatrust.org
Confirmation of stem rust Sr31-virulence (Ug99) in Egypt
Race identification by GRRC (Denmark)

24. *Summary results of race-typing 6 Egyptian samples done at CDL in the 2014 season
Total number of samples 6
Isolates typed as: TCMLC 1
TKKTF 9
TKTTF 4
TTKSK 2
Total number confirmed isolates 16
*Source : Yue Jin, USDA-ARS and **Mogens Hovmøller, GRRC.
- ** Stem rust samples from the 2014 surveys of wheat fields in Egypt were
sent to the Global Rust Reference Center (GRRC, Denmark) for race analysis
The pathotyping was repeated in two or three independent experiments
using single-pustule isolates. Isolates were also typed at the USDA-ARS
Cereal Disease Laboratory (USA) for an independent confirmation.
- Three races in the Ug99 race group were detected; TTKST (four isolates)
from Sharqia, TTKTK (13 isolates) from Sakha, and TTKSK (2 isolates) from
Nubaria.
Confirmation of presence of Ug99 in Egypt

25. Two new Tmp-virulent races in the Ug99 race group

29. Conclusion
• Close cooperation between the wheat pathologists in Egypt and International research
center and labs, e.g. ICARDA, CIMMYT, GRRC, USDA, and University of Minnesota led to
confirm the stem rust Sr31-virulence (Ug99) in Egypt.
• Race analysis results indicated the presence three Ug99-races were detected in Egypt
(2014), Ug99 (TTKSK) in addition to the new race TTKTK and TTKST. Also, Detection of non-
Ug99 but Tmp-virulent race (TKTTF) in Egypt.
• Sr25 virulence detected in two non-Ug99 races .
• Close cooperation has been established in Egypt between wheat breeders and wheat
pathologist from long time ago, generated a good system for rust diseases breeding.
• Despite of presence of TTKSK and TTKTK in Egypt, high level of stem rust resistance is
observed on most of the Egyptian wheat promising lines.
• Wheat genotypes having the combination of Sr2, Sr26 and Sr25 showed high stem rust
resistance level under the Egyptian condition.

30. Future Plan
• Studying role and the relationship between the present genetic makeup in both pathogen
and host should be continued to an overall breeding strategy to wheat rusts resistance.
• More cooperation between the wheat pathologists in Egypt and International research
center and labs, is very important.
• More cooperation is essential now between Egypt and countries having stem rust as a
common biotic stress i.e. Ethiopia, Kenya …etc. to exchange germplasm as well as test and
evaluate our materials.
• Studying the distribution of fungal pathotypes and Sr’s resistance genes of wheat rusts in
Egypt using molecular markers.

31. Acknowledgements
• Agricultural Research Center,
ARC, Egypt
• The Borlaug Global Rust Initiative
(BGRI)
• GRRC, Denmark
• USDA, ARS
• Minnesota University
• ICARDA
• CIMMYT
Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) Technical Workshop, Sydney, Australia, September 17-20, 2015
Thanks to all the people who have
contributed to organizing this great event

32. If you want to go fast, go alone
If you want to go far, go together
African proverb
Thank you for your attention
Contact : a.a.shahin@hotmail.com
September 18, 2015
Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) Technical Workshop, Sydney, Australia, September 17-20, 2015