Phenotypic diversity of barley powdery mildew resistance sources

One hundred and twenty-one of 123 previously detected new sources of wild barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneum) resistant to powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei), and originating from Mediterranean area, and 20 standards were tested at the seedling stage for reaction to 38 selected Israeli powdery mildew isolates. The obtained resistance spectrum (a set of resistant and susceptible reactions) of each accession was divided into triplets and converted to octal numbers. This concentrates information on the resistance phenotype of each accession and makes their comparison much easier. One hundred and thirty-four different resistance spectra were determined. No compatible reaction was found in standards possessing genes mlo and Mlhb2 and in the accession PI 466634. The results demonstrate large diversity in new resistance sources, their distinction from the sources described till now as well as diversity in powdery mildew resistance of wild barley in the Mediterranean area. The results facilitate more effective further studies of such a large set of new resistance sources, and contribute to speeding up their use in barley breeding.