Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus Resistance in Crosses with Pettis Oats1

Abstract

Five oat (Avena sativa L.) cultivars, ‘Pettis,’ ‘Jaycee,’ ‘Florida 500,’ ‘Orbit,’ and ‘O5807,’ and F1, F2, and F3 progenies from crosses of Pettis to the other cultivars were inoculated with barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV), strain Champaign 6. Observations were made on percentage leaf discoloration, plant height, number of panicle‐bearing tillers, and grain yield per plant. Pettis and Jaycee are resistant, Florida 500 is intermediate, and Orbit and 05807 are susceptible to BYDV. F1 and F2 means generally ranked in the same order as the respective Jaycee, Florida 500, Orbit, and 05807 parent means. Lines superior to the higher parent in grain yield were isolated from the crosses to Jaycee, Florida 500, and Orbit. When crossed with two susceptible tester cultivars, Pettis had combining ability superior to Jaycee for the characters studied. A high negative correlation was obtained for leaf discoloration vs the other characters. High positive correlations were obtained among plant height, panicle number, and grain yield. Percentage leaf discoloration provides a useful criterion for evaluation of BYDV resistance in preliminary screening tests and grain yield provides a quantitative measurement of the overall effects of the disease on productivity.