Spring barley resistance to leaf disease pathogens

Abstract

Yield losses of spring barley due to epiphytotics of various leaf diseases can be as high as 30-50%. The most common pathogens in the Rostov region are powdery mildew and helminthosporium blotches. The most effective and accessible way to study the resistance of new varieties is to use artificial infectious backgrounds where parental forms and breeding lines most resistant to pathogens are selected under provocative and extreme conditions. The studies were conducted over a three-year period (2020-2022) at an infectious disease stationary site. The purpose of the study was to identify the varieties which were consistently stable and resistant to the common frondiferous pathogens among the studied varieties and lines of spring barley in the Rostov region. Varieties of spring barley of different ecological and geographical origin were the object of research. The number of the studied samples varied: in 2020 - 215 varieties, 256 in 2021, and 196 in 2022. The weather conditions varied in temperature and precipitation during the study period. As a result of field evaluation on artificial infection background, spring barley varieties and the lines with high resistance to the studied pathogens were identified. Highly resistant to powdery mildew were the varieties KWS-11-228 and Pioner (France), Sunshine, Margret, Viking, Laurika and Tituringia (Germany), Perun (Czech Republic), Tipple (England), Kalita, Leon and Tonus (Russia), Obolon and Charivny (Ukraine). The varieties Rus, Talovsky 9, Tonus and Elf (Russia), and Eney (Ukraine) showed resistance to Helminthosporium blotches. Also, samples with resistance to both pathogens were identified: Leon, Tonus, Elf, Fedos, Format and Azimut (Russia), Margret, Prestige and Viking (Germany), Perun (Czech Republic).