Inheritance of Partial Resistance to Net Blotch in Barley

Reciprocal crosses were made between 9 different barley genotypes with high genetic variability for net blotch resistance. Parents and 72 F₁ plants were used to determine the inheritance of partial resistance to net blotch. Four experiments, one in a growth chamber on seedlings and 3 others in the field on adult plants, were undertaken using a randomised complete block design. An isolate of net blotch from local cultivars was used for inoculation. Non-inoculated plants of one of the field experiments were used for the detached leaf test in petri dishes. Results show that the cultivars ‘Banteng’, and ‘Arrivate’, the Ethiopian line CI 5791, and the Syrian line 79 SIO-10, had a high partial resistance in all experiments. Diallel analysis showed high significant general and specific combining ability when maternal and reciprocal effects were not significant. As the resistance genotypes have a high additive genetic effect, they could be successfully used for breeding purposes.