Annual Progress Report on Malting Barley Research March, 2002

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IDENTIFICATION OF NOVEL DISEASE RESISTANCE GENES FOR BARLEY
Brian J. Steffenson
Department of Plant Pathology
University of Minnesota
St. Paul, MN 55108
OBJECTIVES
The primary mission of the Cereal Disease Resistance Project at the University of
Minnesota is the control of economically important barley (Hordeum vulgare) diseases.
For many diseases, this goal is best achieved through the development of cultivars with
genetic resistance. Wild barley species are rich sources of disease resistance genes for
cultivated barley. Thus, one of the main objectives of this research is to evaluate selected
accessions of H. vulgare subsp. spontaneum (wild barley) and H. bulbosum (bulbous
barley grass) for resistance to the major diseases in the Upper Midwest. Ancillary
objectives related to this project and Upper Midwest barley breeding programs include,
surveying commercial barley fields for diseases in Minnesota; collecting pathogen
isolates from infected barley cultivars and assessing their virulence; and increasing and
maintaining pathogen stocks for testing breeding lines and wild species for resistance.
Evaluation of Hordeum vulgare subsp. spontaneum accessions for disease resistance.
A total of 391 H. v. subsp. spontaneum accessions collected across the Fertile Crescent
were evaluated to Fusarium head blight (FHB) (caused by Fusarium graminearum) in
Hangzhou, China. A high degree of genetic diversity was observed for FHB reaction as
disease severities ranged from