Screening for disease resistance in barley cultivars against Bipolaris sorokiniana using callus culture method

Screening for resistant barley genotypes in response to fungal toxin of Bipolaris sorokiniana was assessed on standing barley plants as well as in selected callus lines of the same. For the standing lines tested, those manifesting chlorosis in response to toxin infiltration showed a significantly slower disease progress as compared to the necrotic lines. Also, necrosis in the callus tissues of the susceptible cultivar in MS medium supplemented with different concentrations of the crude toxin was significantly higher than in the callus tissues of the chlorotic lines studied. Similar host response to the toxin in in vitro and field situations open up the possibility of screening barley cultivars for resistance to spot blotch using callus culture as against classical methods of screening in order to increase accuracy and save time and space.