Pyricularia grisea (teleomorph Magnaporthe grisea) infects more than 80 gramineous plants. In Brazil, it attacks important crops like rice and wheat causing blast disease. Recently the disease was reported in triticale, an alternative crop to wheat producers in Southern São Paulo state. Airborne conidia are one of the most important way of dissemination, although little reliable information is available on the distance traveled by spores from an inoculum source. The present work aimed to determine by molecular tools the efficiency of aerial dissemination of P. grisea from a known inoculum source. The presence of pathogen clones in fields distant 4, 30 and 1000 meters from an infected field suggested that spores can travel at least these distances.
Magnaporthe grisea; DNA
