Yellow rust caused by Puccinia striiformis is a significant wheat disease in cereal growing areas worldwide. On average, yellow rust can cause 50% big yield damages resulting in economic losses. Yellow rust damages wheat leaves, leaf sheaths, awns, and glumes. Puccinia striiformis is divided into four lineages – P. striiformis sensu stricto, P. pseudostriiformis, P. striiformoides, P. gansensis. Different races of yellow rust have been determined. After 2000 three new aggressive races – ‘Warrior’, ‘Kranich’ and ‘Triticale aggressive’ have been identified. New races are characterized by shorter latent period, extended spore germination and tolerance to a high temperature in comparison with the races determined before 2000. These characteristics allowed the new races to replace races dominant before 2000. Yellow rust is a biotrophic heteroecious fungus with a complicated life cycle. For successful development, Puccinia striiformis requires cereals as primary hosts and Berberis spp. as alternate hosts. The history of studies regarding yellow rust is more than two hundred years old but only in 2010 the ecidiospores of yellow rust were found on the alternate host Berberis spp. Two types of resistance – seedling (or all-stage) resistance and adult plant resistance (APR) were discovered. Since 2000 multiple severe epidemics of yellow rust have been observed in cereal growing areas with warmer climate. In recent years, the incidence of yellow rust in Latvia has increased. Particular studies about the biology, distribution, and races of Puccinia striiformis in Latvia are necessary. This article summarizes the information about the classification, biology and harmfulness of the yellow rust.

One of the factors affecting winter wheat grain yields are leaf blotches. The two-factorial trial was conducted in the Research and Study farm ‘Pēterlauki’ in 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 (Latvia). Four nitrogen rates and five fungicide treatment schemes were used. The aim was to clarify the impact of leaf blotches on the winter wheat yield. In winter wheat plots, the tan spot (caused by Pyrenophora tritici-repentis) dominated but also Septoria leaf blotch (caused by Zymoseptoria tritici) was found. The severity of leaf blotches in winter wheat was low in both years due to dry and warm weather. The development of leaf blotches was influenced by fungicide application schemes, but not by nitrogen fertilizer rate. The total disease impact during the vegetation period was estimated by calculation the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC). AUDPC for both diseases were significantly higher in the variant without fungicides (F0) and in the variant, where half of dose of fungicides at the growth stage (GS) 55–59 (F1) was used. The using of full dose of fungicide at the GS 55–59 (F2) as well as using of fungicides two (F3) or three (F4) times in growing season significantly decreased the values of AUDPC for both diseases, but differences among AUDPC values in mentioned three variants were not significant. Results showed that the nitrogen fertilization significantly increased the average per both years grain yield until the nitrogen rate N180. Fungicide treatment schemes had no significant effect on the average grain yield.