Cytoplasmic male sterility in barley

Abstract

The associations between seedling reactions to three fungal pathogens (Puccinia hordei, Pyrenophora teres, and Rhynchosporium secalis) or between adult plant reaction to Rh. secalis and the male fertility restoration ability of msml cytoplasm were studied in about 100 accessions of Hordeum spontaneum. Significant differences in the severity of infection between classes of restoration ability were observed with two cultures of P. hordei (751 and 7,649) and with Rh. secalis on adult plants in the field. The cultures 7,432, 751 and 7,649 of P. hordei showed significant positive correlations between infection severity and restoration percentage. The culture 7,620 of P. hordei displayed a significant negative correlation. Rh. secalis (cultures 492A and 531 combined) on seedlings and the natural field infection in the 1978 season showed significant positive correlations. The accession class with the partial restoration ability of 0.1 to 5.0% of the four arbitrary classes (0.0, 0.1-5.0, 5.1-55.0, and 90.1-100%), displayed the lowest mean severity of infection in six of the eleven tests. Some frequently appearing races of these pathogens may operate as selective agents in the maintenance of restoration ability in the original spontaneum populations.