Evaluation of susceptibility of auto- and alloplasmic barley DH lines to Fusarium seedling blight

Auto- and alloplasmic doubled haploid (DH) lines of barley were examined for susceptibility to Fusarium culmorum (W.G.Sm.) Sacc. (isolate KF350) seedling blight. Inoculated kernels were incubated at 20 °C in a chamber saturated to 100% RH a with 12/12 h dark/light cycle. Germination capacity, disease score on a 5-degree scale and root length were evaluated. The data were analysed statistically using three-factor analysis of variance. It was observed that the infection score of roots of DH lines with H. bulbosum cytoplasm was higher than that of their autoplasmic analogues. Length of infected seedling roots expressed as per cent of the control root length ranged from 81 to 56% in autoplasmic DH lines and from 60 to 48% in alloplasmic lines. These differences were statistically significant (at P = 0.01). It was evident, that H. bulbosum cytoplasm increase susceptibility of barley genotypes to Fusarium seedling blight.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]