Partial resistance of barley to leaf rust,Puccinia hordei. III. The inheritance of the host plant effect on latent period in four cultivars

Summary The latent period (LP) in the barley-leaf rust relationship is an important component of the partial resistance complex. The inheritance of the host plant effect on LP was studied in five crosses between four cultivars. The LP, effectuated by the susceptible cultivars L94 and L92, were 8.0 and 8.6 days resp., those of the resistant cultivars Minerva (Mi) and Vada (Va) 16.9 and 17.1 days resp. The mean F₁ and F₂ values of the crosses L92×L94 and Mi x Va were intermediate between the parental ones. The variances of the F₂'s were slightly larger than those of the parents and the F₁'s indicating some segregation. In the crosses between a susceptible and a resistant cultivar the F₁ value was half way between the mid-parent and susceptible parent value. The F₂ mean lay approximately half way between the mid-parent and F₁ value, with a distribution positively skewed and slightly bimodal. There was no transgression, in fact not even the parental values were recovered among nearly 500 F₂ plants. The F₃-lines of the crosses between susceptible and resistant cultivars showed within line variances from as low as the parental values to as high as or higher than those of the F₂. In hte F₃'s the parental values could be recovered although no transgression occurred.L94 is supposed to carry no genes effecting a longer LP. The long LP of Mi and Va, assuming no linkage, is thought to be effectuated by the cumulative action of a recessive gene with a fairly large effect and some four to five minor genes with additive inheritance. One of these minor genes is supposed to be carried by L92, while Mi and Va are thought to differ for one minor gene only. In case linkage exists, the number of minor genes involved could be higher.