Zacharias A. Pretorius obtained the B.Sc. Agric (Plant Pathology and Entomology, 1977), B.Sc. Agric Honours (1979) and M.Sc. Agric (1982) degrees at the University of Stellenbosch.In 1987 he received a PhD from the University of Natal.In 1978 he started his career as a plant pathologist in the cereal rust program at the Small Grain Centre of the former Department of Agricultural Technical Services.He has spent sabbaticals at the Cereal Rust Laboratory and University of Minnesota (1982/83) and University of Sydney (1997).In 1989 he joined UFS as lecturer in Plant Pathology and currently teaches an undergraduate course in Plant Disease Control and coordinates a master’s module in Integrated Pest Management.Several masters and doctoral students have graduated under his supervision.He has served as President of the Southern African Society for Plant Pathology and currently holds a B2 rating from the NRF.
Area of Expertise
My main research interest is genetic resistance to rust diseases of field crops, particulary cereals.I was responsible for the first comprehensive characterisation of pathogenic variation in the wheat leaf rust fungus in South Africa and have extended this knowledge to wheat stem and stripe rust, barley leaf rust, oat leaf and stem rust, common rust of maize, sunflower rust and soybean rust.In addition, post-graduate students have worked on stem rot of peanut, lentil rust, rust and anthracnose of drybean, ear rot of maize of Fusarium head blight of wheat.I have been involved in the identification and genetic analyses of wheat germplasm with effective resistance (emphasis on durable resistance) to leaf, stem and stripe rust, and the establishment and refinement of evaluation and selection protocols.In collaboration with colleagues a research niche in the assessment and utilization of adult plant resistance to cereal rusts has been developed, with special emphasis on phenotyping and molecular markers.
Courses Presented
PPG314
PPG324 (co-responsible)
PPG634 (co-responsible)
MVL762 (coordinator)
Publications (Short List)
Dunhin, B., Pretorius, Z.A., Kloppers, F.J., Bender, C.M. & Flett, B.2004.Descriptions of spore stages of Puccinia sorghi in South Africa.SA J Plant & Soil 21: 48-52.
Jin, Y., Singh, R.P., Ward, R.W., Waneyra, R., Kinyua, M., Njau, P., Fetch, T., Pretorius, Z.A. & Yahyaoui, A.2007.Characterization of seedling infection types and adult plant infection responses of monogenic Sr gene lines to race TTKS of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici.Plant Disease 91: 1096-1099.
Jin, Y., Szabo, L., Pretorius, Z.A., Singh, R.P. & Fetch, T.2008.Detection of virulence to Sr24 within race TTKS of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici.Plant Disease 92(6): 923-926. (Editor’s paper of the month:APS news capsule 247).
Liebenberg, M.M. & Pretorius, Z.A.2004.Inheritance of resistance to Uromyces appendiculatus in the South African dry bean cultivar Kranskop.SA J Plant & Soil 21: 245-250.
Liebenberg, M.M. & Pretorius, Z.A. 2010. Common bean rust: pathology and control. Horticultural Reviews 37: 1-99 (in press).
Liebenberg, M.M., Liebenberg, A.J. & Pretorius, Z.A.2005.Breeding for rust resistance increases dry bean productivity in the South Africa.SA J Plant & Soil 22: 129-139.
Liebenberg, M.M., Mienie, C.M.S. & Pretorius, Z.A.2006.The occurrence of rust resistance gene Ur-13 in common bean cultivars and lines.Euphytica 150: 365-386.
Marais, F., Marais, A., McCallum, B. & Pretorius, Z.2009. Leaf rust and stripe rust resistance genes Lr62 and Yr42 transferred to common wheat from Aegilops neglecta Req. ex Bertol. Crop Science 49: 871-879.
Marais, G.F., Badenhorst, P.E., Eksteen, A. & Pretorius, Z.A. 2010.Reduction of Aegilops sharonensis chromatin associated with resistance genes Lr56 and Yr38 in wheat. Euphytica 171 (1): 15-22.
Marais, G.F., Marais, A.S., Eksteen, A. & Pretorius, Z.A. 2010. Modification of the Aegilops neglecta – common wheat Lr62/Yr42 translocation through allosyndetic pairing induction. South African Journal of Plant and Soil (in press).
Marais, G.F., McCallum, B., Snyman, J.E., Pretorius, Z.A. & Marais, A.S.2005. Leaf and stripe rust resistance genes Lr54 and Yr37transferred to wheat from Aegilops kotschyi.Plant Breeding 124: 538-541.
Marais, G.F., Pretorius, Z.A., Wellings, C.R., McCallum, B & Marais, A.S.2005.Leaf and stripe rust resistance genes transferred to common wheat from Triticum dicoccoides.Euphytica 143: 115-123.
Mienie, C.M.S., Liebenberg, M.M., Pretorius, Z.A. & P.N. Miklas. 2005.SCAR markers linked to the Phaseolus vulgaris rust resistance gene Ur_13. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 111: 972-979.
Moldenhauer, J., Pretorius, Z.A., Moerschbacher, B.M., Prins, R. & Van der Westhuizen, A.J.2008.Histopathology and PR-protein markers provide inside into adult plant resistance to stripe rust in wheat.Molecular Plant Pathology 9(2):137-145.
Negussie, T. & Pretorius, Z.A.2005.A settling tower for quantitative deposition of urediniospores of Uromyces viciae-fabae.SA J Plant & Soil 22: 141-144.
Negussie, T. & Pretorius, Z.A. 2008.Yield loss of lentil caused by Uromyces viciae-fabae. SA J Plant & Soil 25(1): 32-41.
Negussie, T., Pretorius, Z.A. & Bender, C.M. 2005.Components of rust resistance in lentil.Euphytica 142: 55-64.
Negussie, T., Pretorius, Z.A. & Bender, C.M. 2005.Effect of some environmental factors on in vitro germination of urediniospores and infection of lentils by rust.J. Phytopathology 153: 43-47.
Nunkumar, A., Caldwell, P.M. & Pretorius, Z.A. 2009. Development of Phakopsora pachyrhizi on soybean at controlled temperature, relative humidity and moisture periods. SA J Plant & Soil 26(4): 225-230.
Pretorius, Z.A. & Bender, C.M. 2010. First Report of Virulence for the Wheat Leaf Rust (Puccinia triticina) Resistance Gene Lr32 in South Africa. Plant Disease 94(3) 381. DOI: 10.1094/PDIS-94-3-0381A.
Pretorius, Z.A., Pakendorf, K.W., Marais, G.F., Prins, R. & Komen, J.S.2007.Challenges for sustainable control of cereal rust diseases in South Africa.Aust J Agric Research 58:593-601.
Pretorius, Z.A., Pienaar, L. & Prins, R.2007.Greenhouse and field assessment of adult plant resistance to stripe rust of wheat.Australasian Plant Pathology 36: 552-559.
Prins, R., Pretorius, Z.A., Bender, C.M. & Lehmensiek, A. 2010. QTL mapping of stripe, leaf and stem rust resistance genes in a Kariega x Avocet S doubled haploid wheat population. Molecular Breeding (in press).
Prins, R., Ramburan, V.P., Pretorius, Z.A., Boyd, L.A., Boshoff, W.H.P., Smith, P.H. & Louw, J.H.2005. Development of a doubled haploid mapping population and linkage map for the bread wheat cross Kariega X Avocet S.SA J Plant & Soil 22: 1-8.
Rossouw, J.D., Pretorius, Z.A., Silva, H.D & Lamkey, K.2009.Breeding for Resistance to Stenocarpella Ear Rot in Maize.Pages 223-245 in: Plant Breeding Reviews Vol 31, ed. J. Janik, Wiley-Blackwell.
Smit, H.A., Tolmay, V.L., Barnard, A., Jordaan, J.P., Koekemoer, F.P., Otto, W.M., Pretorius, Z.A., Purchase, J.L. & Tolmay, J.P.C. 2010. An overview of the context and scope of wheat (Triticum aestivum) research in South Africa from 1983 to 2008. SA Journal of Plant & Soil (in press).
Visser, B., Herselman, L. & Pretorius, Z.A. 2009. Genetic comparison of Ug99 with selected South African races of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici.Molecular Plant Pathology 10 (2): 213-222.
