Management of Wheat Stem Rust (Puccinia graminis f.Sp. tritici) through Variety and Nitrogen Fertilizer Application rate in West Shoa Zone

Wheat stem rust ( Puccinia graminis f.sp. tritici ) is a common fungal disease that causes significant yield reductions and grain quality deterioration. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the efficiency of integrating different management strategies against stem rust (Sr) of wheat in the West Shoa zone during 2022/23 main growing season. A split-split plot design was used for field experiment using wheat varieties, the frequency of application of fungicides, and nitrogen fertilizer rates. The results of the field experiment revealed that a significant interaction effect of wheat variety, nitrogen fertilizer rate, and frequency of application of fungicides on disease intensity and wheat grain yield. The Wane wheat variety was found to be more resistant to stem rust, followed by Kingbird. Generally, the pressure of the disease increased with increasing nitrogen fertilizer rate from 100 to 200 kg ha ^− 1 . On the other hand, increasing the frequency of spraying of fungicides from 0 to 2 resulted in a lower disease pressure in all varieties. But, result is more pronounced on the susceptible wheat variety. The present findings confirmed that the role of integrated disease management may play in controlling stem rust epidemics. However, results should be verified through additional trials across agro ecologies and years.