Breeding for resistance to cereal cyst nematode in wheat II. Use of test tube cultures in selection

Summary The use of soil. naturally infested with Heterodera avenae, to select resistant heterozygotes in backcross progenies of wheat, was tested for reliability. Selfed progenies from plants selected as resistant were cultured monoxenically in test tubes with nematodes hatched from single cysts, while backcross progenies from the same parent plants were grown in pots of naturally infested soil. Cyst counts were made after two months' growth. The results showed that over 50% of the backcross lines, screened in previous generations with naturally infested soil, had been erroneously selected as resistant. The test tube cultures clearly differentiated lines carrying resistance from those which were susceptible and corroborated results from pot tests.