Background

Gladiolus rust has been reported recently as a quarantine disease in the northern region of the State of Mexico; it affects the flower and corm quality. Knowledge about its spatial behavior is required for integrated management.

Objective

To model the spatial distribution of gladiolus rust in plantations growing in the municipalities of Ixtlahuaca and Jocotitlan, during the spring-summer and summer-autumn cycles of 2013 and 2014.

Methods

The severity and the incidence in plants were determined at 121 georeferenced sampling points, per plot, to determine the spatial distribution of the disease through geostatistical techniques with the “R” program.

Results and conclusions

The results shown the epidemic was absent during the two that were evaluated in 2013 and in the spring-summer cycle of 2014. Symptoms of the disease were detected during the spathe stage, in the summer-autumn cycle of 2014, getting maximum infection rates of 61.1% in Ixtlahuaca and 75.8% in Jocotitlan; disease presence was confirmed by the formation of transversal pustules on the ribs of the leaf and urediniospores. Rust presented an aggregated spatial distribution during the phenological stages of spathe formation and flowering. Lineal and pentaspheric models were used to describe the spatial dependence of the disease.