2008 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416) The objective of the cooperative research between the University of Arkansas and the USDA Agricultural Research Service is to evaluate and identify sources of resistance to wheat stripe rust. 1b.Approach (from AD-416) The University of Arkansas will obtain, plant, manage, evaluate, and harvest (if needed) uniform nurseries and other germplasm sources of wheat for evaluation to the wheat stripe rust pathogen, Puccinia striiformis. The wheat germplasm will be evaluated for resistance by Dept of Plant Pathology personnel using standard evaluation rating scales at one or more locations in the State of Arkansas, where stripe rust is known to occur. Data will be put into a standard electronic format and given to the ARS project coordinator. 3.Progress Report This project is related to Objective 1 of this in-house project: Identify sources of resistance to foliar fungal pathogens and introgress resistance into adapted wheat. Lines in the stripe rust nursery provided by the ARS coordinator were planted in an experiment with three replications at Fayetteville, Arkansas. The experiment was managed to prevent other diseases from interfering with the test, inoculated five times with spores of an isolate representative of the contemporary population of the pathogen in the eastern United States, and irrigated frequently to promote stripe rust development. The severity of stripe rust in each plot was recorded when the severity on susceptible checks reached about 60%. Data were entered into an Excel spreadsheet and emailed to the project coordinator shortly after the data were recorded. The coordinator was informed frequently of the stage of wheat growth and development of stripe rust so that a visit could be planned to record data at an optimal time. Upon arrival, the coordinator was given a field book to record data. Principal Investigator confers with the cooperator by phone after planting to assess progress, in late winter to assess nursery inoculation, and in spring to assess disease progress. Principal Investigator visits both nursery locations in the spring to assist in disease severity assessments.