Selection Response and Parent-offspring Correlation of the Resistance to Fusarium Head Blight in Barley

Abstract

Fusarium head blight or scab caused by Gibberella zeae is an important disease of barley and wheat grown in regions where the humidity is high at the heading to ripening stages. Using about 5, 000 barley varieties, the author and Heta (1989) tested the reaction to Fusarium head blight for screening resistant varieties, and found remarkable varietal differences in the resistance. In the present report the results of genetic studies on the resistance by means of selection response and parent-offspring correlation are outlined. To evaluate the resistance of the plants, three spikes attached to their flag leaves were cut from each plant at the flowering stage and inoculated with an ascospore suspension of Gibberella zeae, maintained for 8 days under controlled conditions of light, hurnidity and temperature. The score of resistance of each plant was determined based on the percentage of infected spikelets as shown in Tables 1 and 2.