The effect of the ‘Golden Promise’ dwarfing gene on partial resistance to leaf rust and powdery mildew in spring barley

Abstract

F2-plant progenies, derived from seven crosses between susceptible erectoides breeding lines and conventional, nutans breeding lines with partial resistance to leaf rust incited by Puccinia hordei Otth., derived from ‘Vada’ x ‘Cebada Capa’, were examined in a field and a glasshouse experiment. In the field experiment, the nutans plant progenies generally were more resistant to leaf rust and powdery mildew than the erectoides progenies. In the glasshouse experiment, the components of partial resistance to leaf rust of six erectoides and six nutans progenies derived from one cross were studied. The nutans progenies generally had lower infection frequencies than erectoides progenies with a similar infection level in the field experiment. The variation for leaf rust and powdery mildew infection in the field was similar for the nutans and erectoides progenies. This suggests that erectoides lines with a fairly high level of partial resistance to leaf rust and powdery mildew can be selected from these populations.