A study of factors influencing the genetics of reaction of barley to root rot caused by Helminthosporium sativum

Abstract

The inheritance of seedling reaction to root rot, caused by the 514 isolate of Helminthosporium sativum, was studied in crosses and backcrosses among the barley varieties CI.8969 and CI.8873, which show resistance, and the variety Olli, which is susceptible. The study was carried out under a controlled environment in growth cabinets. The data from reaction tests of F3 and backcross families were analyzed by Elston's procedure for testing a one-locus hypothesis, and by Powers' partitioning method. Polygenic inheritance for seedling reaction was indicated, but subsequent experiments showed that seed weight strongly influenced the reaction, which could account for the polygenic interpretation. Based on a drastic reduction of resistance in greenhouse-produced seed, irrespective of seed weight, a high positive correlation of seed weight with resistance in field-produced seed, and other evidence of a similar nature, it was assumed that resistance was related to a principle, present in the seed or on the seed surface, the quantity of which was influenced by seed size and modified by environment. Whether there was a genotypic influence on the quantity of the resistance principle, aside from that affecting seed weight, was not established conclusively. A field study involving the same materials, made in an area known to produce natural root-rot infection, showed that no correlation existed between the disease indices of the entries in the seedling stage in the growth-cabinet tests, and their reaction to the disease in the field. CI.8873 showed field resistance, whereas CI.8969 did not.