ABSTRACT

Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L.) occupies approximately 7 percent of the total wheat area in the world, estimated to be about 13.6 million hectares in 1997. Approximately 6 percent of the total wheat area is planted with spring type durum and the remaining 1 percent with facultative/winter type durum. CIMMYT’s breeding efforts have focused mostly on improving spring durum. Some diseases and pests may be serious production constraints over a wide area or they may be restricted to a specific country. Rusts, septoria tritici leaf blotch, bunts, smuts, fusarium head blight, and root rots are more widely distributed. Little investigation has been done to understand the genetic basis of resistance in durum compared to bread wheat (T. aestivum L.). This chapter attempts to briefly describe the diseases considered significant, especially in the spring durum wheat areas, and available resistance to reduce losses.