The effect of watering regime on the disease severity of Fusarium pseudograminearum wheat seedlings

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Fusarium pseudograminearum inoculated and noninoculated genotypes with different susceptibility to crown rot were watered to either field capacity or a reduced watering (67% of field capacity) regime in three controlled environment experiments. Six bread wheat genotypes were included in each trial conducted in 2016 and 2017. The growth room was set to 25°C/21°C in a 12 h day/night schedule and a light energy of 600 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹. One file "Abdulsada et al 2024a (published).xlsx" contains all data and trait descriptions. Data collected included the % of leaf sheath 1, leaf sheath 2, leaf sheath 3 and leaf sheath 4 covered in crown rot lesions, average and total disease ratings across leaf sheaths, shoot weight, shoot length. Gas exchange parameters were measured using a portable photosynthesis system (LI-6400; LICOR). The measurements were taken from the first expanded leaf on two plants per pot. The temperature in the 6 cm2 chamber was set at 25°C and the leaf level temperature was maintained at 1700 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹ using an in-built LED lamp (red/blue). Vapour pressure deficit was maintained between 1.9 and 2.1 kPa within this chamber during measurements. Each leaf was allowed 10–15 min to reach a steady state before measurements were taken. Rate of photosynthesis (A), stomatal conductance (gs), internal CO2 concentration (Ci) and transpiration rate (E) were recorded between 10:00 and 12:00 hours. An across experiment analysis of data from the gas exchange parameters (photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, internal CO2 concentration and transpiration rate) and disease severity assessments was conducted using a linear mixed model.