Sources and genetics of crown rust resistance in barley

ABSTRACT Crown rust, caused by Puccinia coronata var. hordei, is a new disease threat to barley in the Great Plains region of the United States. Deployment of resistant cultivars is the only economically viable option for the control of this disease. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate the sources and genetics of crown rust resistance in barley. A geographically diverse sample of barley germ plasm collected around the world (526 accessions total) was evaluated at the seedling stage to P. coronata var. hordei, and only 10 accessions (1.9% of the total) were found resistant. These 10 accessions were also resistant at the adult plant stage in a greenhouse test. Three F(2) populations (Bowman x Hor2596, MR x Hor2596, and MD x Hor2596) were developed to study the inheritance of crown rust resistance in the resistant line Hor2596 (CIho 1243). A close fit to a 3:1 ratio of resistant/susceptible plants was observed in all three populations and is consistent with the segregation of a single resistance gene. F(1) plants from the Bowman x Hor2596 population exhibited slightly higher infection types than the resistant parent, indicating incomplete dominance. The locus symbol Rpc1 and allele symbol Rpc1.a were recommended for the crown rust resistance gene in Hor2596. An attempt was made to associate the Rpc1 locus with one of the seven barley chromosomes by analyzing linkage data with previously mapped morphological markers in crosses with multiple recessive (MR) and multiple dominant (MD) morphological marker stocks. However, no close linkages were detected between Rpc1 and the 20 morphological markers present in the marker stocks. The resistant accessions identified in this study should be useful to breeders for developing barley germ plasm with crown rust resistance.