Advances in genetics and breeding for rust diseases resistance in turfgrasses

Rust diseases occur on all turfgrass species which caused by the particular air borne rust fungus, symptoms of these diseases appear on the both sides and the sheath of leaves. Based on previous publications on the diseases, this review article discussed the research progress of rust diseases resistance made in coolseason grasses, like tall fescue, ryegrass, and Kentucky bluegrass, and warmseason grasses, like bermudagrass and zoysiagrass. The authors also figured out some important points in future research and necessary methods will be conducted. The authors focused on the characteristics and efficient of germplasm evaluation for rust diseases resistance in turfgrasses. Combined with conventional breeding methods, we summarized the development of the linkage molecular markers and quantitative trait locus QTL for rust diseases resistance in turfgrasses. The purpose of this paper was to provide a relative detailed research background information for further research.