Tom Fetch

• PhD
• Researcher at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Wheat stem rust, caused by the fungal pathogen Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt), has re-emerged as an important disease of wheat. This pathogen continues to spread and evolve new virulent races. The international letter-code system of nomenclature has been used to pathotype these new emerging races, and gene SrMcN from ‘McNair 701ʹ winter whe...

New races of both Puccinia graminis and P. striiformis are frequently reported throughout the world. Sexual recombination on a susceptible Berberis species host may have produced some of these new reported races, or could generate future new races. The two centers of diversity of simple-leaved Berberis are South American and Asia. In 2016 and 2017,...

Important races of wheat stem rust in Ecuador

Wheat stem rust is a devastating disease that has incited severe epidemics resulting in extreme yield losses over the past century. Stem rust infection in plots of wheat line UC11075, known to carry the Sr38 resistance gene, was unusual and severe in February 2016 in a nursery at the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias Austro statio...

AAC W1876 hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) has grain yield and time to maturity within the range of the check cultivars: Katepwa, Laura, Lillian, Carberry, and CDC Kernen. AAC W1876 has an awned spike, a low lodging score indicative of strong straw, and a short plant stature typical of a semidwarf wheat. AAC W1876 expressed resistance t...

AAC Prevail (BW462) is a high-yielding spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) with high protein content and is adapted to the growing conditions in the Canadian prairies. AAC Prevail yielded similar to Unity, the highest yielding check in the Central Bread Wheat Cooperative Registration tests (2010–2012). Over 3 yr of testing in Manitoba (zone 1), AAC...

The genus Berberis is well-known historically as the alternate host of Puccinia graminis Pers.:Pers., and now Puccinia striiformis Westend. There are two centres of diversity of Berberis, one in Asia and one in South America, that arose from a vicariance event in the Cretaceous Period. More than 30 species of Berberis have been reported in Ecuador,...

South America is one of two centres of diversity for the genus Berberis. As the alternate host for both Puccinia graminis Pers.:Pers. and Puccinia striiformis Westend., Berberis spp. are important in increasing the virulence diversity of races of these rust fungi. However, little is known about the susceptibility of South American Berberis to these...

Stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis, is a devastating disease attacking barley, oat, and wheat crops globally. The most common control method for stem rust is the use of resistant cultivars. Typically, the identity of deployed resistance genes in a region is known and concomitantly the races they are effective against are also known. Thus, it is...

AAC Congress durum wheat [Triticum turgidum L. subsp. durum (Desf.) Husn.] is adapted to the durum production area of the Canadian prairies. Averaged over three years, AAC Congress yielded significantly more grain than Strongfield and AC Navigator. AAC Congress had a protein concentration significantly lower than Strongfield but significantly highe...

AAC Penhold, an awned hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivar, yielded significantly more grain than check cultivar 5700PR while maturing 2 d earlier and was 7.5 cm shorter in stature. The seed size was significantly larger than 5700PR and 5701PR, with a test weight significantly heavier than both checks. AAC Penhold expressed resista...

AAC Redwater is a hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) adapted to the shorter season wheatgrowing regions of the Canadian prairies. AAC Redwater was evaluated in the Parkland Wheat Cooperative Test in 2009, 2010, and 2011. AAC Redwater was significantly (P < 0.05) higher yielding than Katepwa (6.4%) and AC Splendor (7.5%) and was not signif...

AAC Jatharia (BW483) is a hollow-stemmed, high-protein, and high-yielding spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) for the longer growing season areas of the Canadian Prairies. AAC Jatharia was the highest yielding line in the Central Bread Wheat Cooperative (CBWC) Registration Tests performed in the eastern prairies in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Over 2 yr o...

AAC NRG097, a hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), was developed at the Swift Current Research and Development Centre (SCRDC), Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Swift Current, SK. AAC NRG097 has grain yield and time to maturity within the range of the checks, a semidwarf stature, and heavier seed mass than the checks. It expressed r...

Stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici, is a destructive disease of wheat that can be controlled by deploying effective stem rust resistance (Sr) genes. Highly virulent races of P. graminis f. sp. tritici in Africa have been detected and characterized. These include race TRTTF and the Ug99 group of races such as TTKSK. Several Canadi...

AAC Connect is a hulled two-row spring malting barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivar widely adapted to western Canada. Developed from the cross TR04282/BM9831D-229 made in 2004, AAC Connect was evaluated in the Western Cooperative Two-Row Barley Registration Test (2012–2013) and the Collaborative Malting Barley Trials (2013–2014) conducted by the ma...

The Collaborative Oat Research Enterprise (CORE) was initiated in 2009 and ran until approximately 2014. It consisted of a set of coordinated projects, funded investigators, and collaborators who were united by an over-arching goal of developing modern tools for genomics and molecular breeding in oat. Principle outcomes of the CORE included: (1) se...

AAC Cameron (BW485) is a hollow-stemmed high yielding spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) with good agronomic, disease, and end-use quality characteristics. AAC Cameron is best adapted to the eastern region of the Canadian prairies as represented in the Central Bread Wheat Cooperative (CBWC) Registration Tests in 2011, 2012, and 2013. AAC Cameron w...

Key message: Resistance to Ug99 stem rust in Triumph 64 was conferred by SrTmp on chromosome arm 6DS and was mapped to the same position as SrCad and Sr42 , however, the three genes show functional differences. Stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt), is an important disease of wheat that can be controlled by effective stem rus...

AAC Brandon hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) has grain yield and time to maturity within the range of the check cultivars: Katepwa, Laura, Lillian, Carberry, and CDC Kernen. AAC Brandon has an awned spike, a low lodging score indicative of strong straw, and a short plant stature typical of a semidwarf. AAC Brandon expressed resistance t...

Key message: New SNP markers that can be used for marker-assisted selection and map-based cloning saturate the chromosome region carrying SrCad , a wheat gene that confers resistance to Ug99 stem rust. Wheat stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici, is a devastating disease of wheat worldwide. Development of cultivars with effective r...

Stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis (Pgt), is a damaging disease of wheat that can be controlled by utilizing effective stem rust resistance genes. ‘Thatcher’ wheat carries complex resistance to stem rust that is enhanced in the presence of the resistance gene Lr34. The purpose of this study was to examine APR in ‘Thatcher’ and look for genetic...

Allele survey of SNP markers linked to Sr12 in Australian germplasm and Canadian (North American) germplasm. (XLSX)

Markers identified by bulked segregant analysis from the 9k iSelect SNP array as being associated with field resistance to stem rust in the RL population. (XLSX)

Allele survey of NB-LRR3 marker of 60 Australian wheat cultivars showing the clustering of allele 1 (orange, Thatcher) and allele 2 (blue, non-Thatcher) using the KASP assay. (TIF)

Primer sequences for SNP based markers that were mapped to chromosome 3BL using KASP assays. (XLSX)

Conquer, an orange wheat blossom midge (Sitodiplosis mosellana Géhin) resistant hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), combines good agronomic performance with good resistance to leaf rust, stem rust, stripe rust, and common bunt. Conquer had similar maturity, acceptable straw strength, and higher test weight as compared with check cultivars...

Frequent emergence of new variants in the Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt) Ug99 race group in Kenya has made pathogen survey a priority. We analyzed 140 isolates from 78 Pgt samples collected in Kenya between 2008 and 2014 and identified six races, including three not detected prior to 2013. Genotypic analysis of 20 isolates from 2013 and 201...

Wheat stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici, causes severe losses in wheat production under epidemic conditions. The detection of isolate Ug99 in east Africa (Pretorius et al. 2000) has raised global concerns of the vulnerability of wheat to stem rust. Since initial detection, 10 variants of Ug99 have been reported across 13 countri...

Stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis, is an important disease on wheat, oat, and barley crops worldwide. Because the disease is primarily controlled in Canada using resistant cultivars, determining the virulence structure in pathogen populations is necessary for the early detection of novel virulent races. Surveys of wheat (Triticum aestivum), oa...

Transfer of the leaf rust (caused by Puccinia triticina Eriks.) resistance gene Lr59 from Aegilops peregrina (Hackel) Maire et Weiler to common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) produced a complex, non-compensating translocation chromosome with the composition 1AS.1LP.6SP.6BS. At its proximal end the alien insert has homoeology with the group 1L chromos...

Key message: A compensating, recombined Lr59 translocation with greatly reduced alien chromatin was identified. Microsatellite locus Xdupw217 occurs within the remaining segment and can be used as a co-dominant marker for Lr59. In earlier studies, leaf rust (caused by Puccinia triticina Eriks.) resistance gene Lr59 was transferred from Aegilops pe...

AAC Tenacious, an orange wheat blossom midge (Sitodiplosis mosellana Géhin) tolerant hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), combined good agronomic performance with excellent resistance to Fusarium head blight, leaf rust, stem rust, stripe rust, common bunt, loose smut, and preharvest sprouting. AAC Tenacious had similar maturity, acceptable...

Menzies, J. 2015. AAC Foray red spring wheat. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 799Á803. AAC Foray, an orange wheat blossom midge (Sitodiplosis mosellana Ge´hin) tolerant hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), combined high grain yield and good agronomic performance with excellent resistance to leaf and stem rust, and improved resistance to Fusarium he...

Stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis, has historically been the most important disease of cereal crops worldwide. It is primarily controlled using resistant cultivars in Canada, although prophylactic use of fungicides is increasing. Determining the virulence structure in pathogen populations is essential to detect new virulent races that may aris...

Race-specific resistance of wheat to Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici is primarily posthaustorial and often involves the induction of a hypersensitive response (HR). The aim of this study was to investigate host defense responses induced in interactions between P. graminis f. sp. tritici races and wheat lines carrying different race-specific stem r...

In barley, gene Rpg5 was first identified for providing resistance to the rye stem rust pathogen (Puccinia graminis f. sp. secalis). A subsequent study determined that Rpg5 is required for rpg4-mediated resistance to the wheat stem rust pathogen (P. graminis f. sp. tritici) including pathotype TTKSK ("Ug99"), which poses a major threat to global wh...

Stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis f.sp. tritici (Pgt), is a destructive disease of wheat that has historically caused significant yield losses in much of the global wheat production area. Over the past 50 years, stem rust has been effectively controlled by deploying cultivars carrying stem rust resistance (Sr) genes. With the emergence of new...

2014. Peace hard red spring wheat. Can. J. Plant Sci. 94: 1297Á1302. Peace is a hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) adapted to the shorter-season wheat-growing regions of the Canadian prairies. Peace was evaluated in the Parkland Wheat Cooperative Test in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Peace exhibited grain yield similar to the check cultivars over...

Oat (Avena sativa L.) is an important cereal crop that is grown worldwide, whose productivity is often affected by fungal diseases. The major fungal diseases limiting oat production are crown rust, stem rust, Fusarium head blight, and powdery mildew. Control of these diseases has been achieved mainly via host resistance genes, but frequent changes...

Stem, leaf, and stripe rust diseases have caused devastating yield losses in wheat worldwide since biblical times, and continue to be a major threat to global food production. Rust pathogens produce phenomenal amounts of wind-borne fungal spores, which are rapidly dispersed over hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of kilometers where they can subseq...

Rust pathogens within the genus Puccinia cause some of the most economically significant diseases of crops. Different formae speciales of P. graminis have co-evolved to mainly infect specific grass hosts; however some genotypes of other closely related cereals can also be infected. This study investigated the inheritance of resistance to three dive...

Key message: Wheat stem rust resistance gene SrWeb is an allele at the Sr9 locus that confers resistance to Ug99. Race TTKSK (Ug99) of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici, the causal fungus of stem rust, threatens global wheat production because of its broad virulence to current wheat cultivars. A recently identified Ug99 resistance gene from cultiva...

Three wheat rusts [stripe rust (caused by Puccinia striiformis Westend f. sp. Tritici), leaf rust (caused by Puccinia triticina Eriks), and stem rust (caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. Tritici)] are devastating diseases that can cause substantial economic yield loss in western Canada. Identification of novel sources of resistance to these diseases...

Legge, W. G., Tucker, J. R., Fetch Jr., T. G., Haber, S., Menzies, J. S., Tekauz, A., Turkington, T. K., and Savard, M. E. 2014. AAC Synergy barley. Can. J. Plant Sci. 94: ____. AAC Synergy is a hulled two-row spring malting barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivar with high yield and is widely adapted to western Canada. Developed from the cross TR0226...

Eighty-two Australian and five exotic barley cultivars were evaluated at the seedling stage for resistance to the Australian stem rust pathotype 98-1,2,3,5,6. While most of these cultivars exhibited mesothetic (mixed infection type) reactions that were associated with a high level of chlorosis, two (‘O’Connor’ and ‘Pacific Ranger’) were highly resi...

Growing population and income are projected to increase global demand for wheat by at least 60% by 2050. Additional wheat production should come from sustainable intensification of existing wheat-inclusive production systems rather than GHG-enhancing land clearing. The largest yield gaps for wheat are in developing countries where smallholder farms...

Oat (Avena sativa L.) productivity is affected by crown rust (Puccinia coronata f. sp. avenae) and stem rust (Puccinia graminis f. sp. avenae) worldwide. Control of these diseases has been through the use of host resistance genes, but frequent changes in pathogen virulence provide a continuing threat to oat production. Wild oat species have been a...

Taylor is a hulless two-row spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivar with malting quality potential, and is one of the first hulless cultivars to be registered for that purpose in Canada. This line was developed in 2001 from a CDC Freedom/Rivers cross by in vitro selection using three Fusarium derived mycotoxins in the medium of an anther cultur...

Rust and bunt spores that act as ice nuclei (IN) could change the formation characteristics and properties of ice-containing clouds. In addition, ice nucleation on rust and bunt spores, followed by precipitation, may be an important removal mechanism of these spores from the atmosphere. Using an optical microscope, we studied the ice nucleation pro...

Mitchell Fetch, J. W., Tekauz, A., Brown, P. D., Ames, N., Chong, J., Fetch, Jr., T. G., Haber, S. M., Menzies, J. G.,, T. F. Townley-Smith, Stadnyk, K. D. and Green, D. A. 2013. Stride oat. Can. J. Plant Sci. 93: xxx–xxx. Stride is a white-hulled spring oat (Avena sativa L.) cultivar with moderate resistance to fusarium head blight. It is postulat...

Thatcher near-isogenic lines (NILs) of wheat carrying resistance gene Lr2a, Lr3, LrB or Lr9 were inoculated with Puccinia triticina races of virulence phenotype BBBD, MBDS, SBDG and FBDJ. Puccinia triticina infection structures were analysed under the fluorescence microscope over a course of 14 days after inoculation (dai). The relative proportion...

Stem rust (Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici) is responsible for major production losses in hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) around the world. The spread of stem rust race Ug99 and variants is a threat to worldwide wheat production and efforts are ongoing to identify and incorporate resistance. The objectives of this research were to identify...

Ceveza is a doubled-haploid hulled two-row spring malting barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivar widely adapted to western Canada, Quebec, and the Maritimes. Developed from the cross TR251/Newdale//TR253/Newdale made in 1998, Cerveza was evaluated in the Western Cooperative Two-row Barley Registration Test (2006-2007) and the Collaborative Malting Ba...

Legge, W. G., Tucker, J. R., Fetch, Jr., T. G., Haber, S., Menzies, J. G., Noll, J. S., Tekauz, A., Turkington, T. K. and Savard, M. E. 2013. Major barley. Can. J. Plant Sci. 93: 291-297. Major is a hulled two-row spring malting barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivar widely adapted to western Canada. Developed from the cross Rivers/Newdale made in 19...

2013. Cardale hard red spring wheat. Can. J. Plant Sci. 93: 307Á313. Cardale is a hard red spring wheat that meets the end-use quality specifications of the Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) class. Cardale is a semi-dwarf statured wheat with moderate resistance to Fusarium head blight (FHB). Cardale is derived from the cross McKenzie/ Alsen. Cardale...

hard red spring wheat. Can. J. Plant Sci. 93: 299Á305. Shaw is a hard red spring wheat that meets the end-use quality specifications of the Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) class. Shaw contains the antibiosis resistance gene Sm1, which is effective against the wheat midge larvae (Sitodiplosis mosellana Gein). Shaw is derived from the cross Harvest/...

Vesper is a high-yielding, hard red spring wheat that is adapted to the wheat-growing regions of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. In the Central Bread Wheat Cooperative Registration Trials of 2007, 2008 and 2009, Vesper out-yielded five check cultivars by an average of 12%, and Unity, which was the highest yielding check, by 4.6%. Lodging, height and mat...

Leaf rust (Puccinia triticina Eriks.), stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis f. tritici Eriks.) and stem rust (Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici) cause major production losses in durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var. durum). The objective of this research was to identify and map leaf, stripe and stem rust resistance loci from the French cultivar Sachem...

Thinopyrum intermedium, a wild relative of wheat, is an excellent source of disease resistance. Two novel partial amphiploids, 08-47-50 and 08-53-55 (2n = 6x = 42), were developed from wide crosses between durum wheat and Th. intermedium. Meiotic analysis showed that pollen mother cells of the two partial amphiploids formed an average 20.49 bivalen...

Stem rust (Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici) is responsible for major production losses in hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) around the world. The spread of stem rust race Ug99 and variants is a threat to worldwide wheat production and efforts are ongoing to identify and incorporate resistance. The objectives of this research were to identify...

Snowstar is a hard white spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) that represents an improvement in end-use quality specifications of the Canada Western Hard White Spring wheat class compared with Snowbird. Snowstar was evaluated in the Central Bread Wheat Cooperative Test in 2003, and the Hard White Wheat Cooperative Test in 2004 and 2005. Snowstar app...

Ghazvini, H., Hiebert, C. W., Zegeye, T. and Fetch, T. 2012. Inheritance of stem rust resistance derived from Aegilops triuncialis in wheat line Tr129. Can. J. Plant Sci. 92: 1037-1041. Stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt), is a devastating disease of wheat that can cause serious grain yield reduction. The emergence of Pgt ra...

An important aspect of studying putative new genes in wheat is determining their position on the wheat genetic map. The primary difficulty in mapping genes is determining which chromosome carries the gene of interest. Several approaches have been developed to address this problem, each with advantages and disadvantages. Here we describe a new appro...

Stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici, is a devastating disease of wheat. The emergence of race TTKSK (Ug99) and new variants in Africa threatens wheat production worldwide. The best method of controlling stem rust is to deploy effective resistance genes in wheat cultivars. Few stem rust resistance (Sr) genes derived from the primar...

T he wheat midge (Sitodiplosis mosellana Géhin) is widely distributed in the Canadian prairies (Lamb et al., 1999; Olfert et al., 2009), leading to annual losses of yield and grade in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in the range of $40– 300 million Canadian (Ian Wise, personal communication, is a hard red spring wheat containing the antibiotic resista...

North American durum lines, selected for resistance to TTKSK (Ug99) and related races of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici in Kenya, became susceptible in Debre Zeit, Ethiopia, suggesting the presence of stem rust races that were virulent to the TTKSK-effective genes in durum. The objective of this study was to characterize races of P. graminis f.sp...

Stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis, is a disease of cereal crops worldwide. In Canada, it is primarily controlled using resistant cultivars. Tracking the virulence structure in the pathogen populations is essential to detect new virulent races that may occur. Surveys of barley (Hordeum vulgare), oat (Avena sativa) and wheat (Triticum aestivum)...

The ideal way to deal with quantitative traits is to improve all of them simultaneously. We co-developed new and multi-disciplinary approaches and many micro-methods that lead to faster progress through more efficient use of genetic diversity coupled with severe selection combining biotic and abiotic stresses. This helps rapidly develop germplasm t...

Wheat stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici, has historically been a major limiting factor in wheat production. Identification of isolate Ug99 in Uganda in 1999 highlighted the vulnerability of a large proportion of the global wheat crop and raised international concerns. Since initial detection, seven races have been identified in...

Norman is a hulled two-row spring malting barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivar derived from the cultivar CDC Kendall that was widely grown in western Canada and utilized commercially by the malting and brewing industry. Developed in 2000 by in vitro selection using deoxynivalenol mycotoxin in the medium of an anther culture system, Norman was evalu...

Rust diseases are among the most dangerous that attack food crops, and historically have caused devastating yield losses worldwide. Rust pathogens produce prodigious amounts of spores in a short period of time, which are rapidly wind-dispersed over a large area for subsequent re-infection of the crop. This characteristic of rust diseases allows for...

Summit is a white-hulled spring oat (Avena sativa L.) cultivar postulated to carry the crown rust resistance combination Pc38, Pc39, Pc48, and Pc68, which was effective against the prevalent pathotypes of crown rust on the Canadian prairies at the time of its release. It has very good resistance to loose and covered smut, moderately good resistance...

Surveillance of wheat rust pathogens, including assessments of rust incidence and virulence characterization via either trap plots or race (pathotype) surveys, has provided information fundamental in formulating and adopting appropriate national and international policies, investments and strategies in plant protection, plant breeding, seed systems...

Stainless is a grey-hulled spring oat (Avena sativa L.) cultivar postulated to carry the crown rust resistance gene, Pc91, which was effective against the prevalent pathotypes of crown rust races on the Canadian prairies at the time of its release. Stainless could possibly also carry one or more of the crown rust resistance genes, Pc38, Pc39, and P...

Oat stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis Pers. f. sp. avenae Eriks. and E. Henn., causes sporadic epidemics and yield losses in Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan. Oat (Avena sativa L.) cultivars registered for production in this area possess resistance to stem rust, but their genetic composition is unknown. Race TJJ (NA67), first detected in 1998...

Stem rust (caused by Puccinia graminis Pers.:Pers. f. sp. tritici Eriks. & E. Henn.) has re-emerged as a threat to wheat production with the evolution of new pathogen races, namely TTKSK (Ug99) and its variants, in Africa. Deployment of resistant wheat cultivars has provided long-term control of stem rust. Identification of new resistance genes wil...