Cross-incompatibility among Indian isolates of Pyricularia grisea

Abstract

There have been few investigations into the occurrence of the perfect state of Pyricularia grisea in India. We collected isolates of the fungus from several native cereal and grass hosts. We made 756 crosses among 172 monoconidial isolates from these collections of P. grisea. None of the matings produced typical perithecia with asci and ascospores. However, 76 crosses produced perithecia-like structures devoid of asci and ascospores. The sexual stage may be rare in India, but this does not seem to interfere with the ability of the pathogen to cause severe epidemics.