In vitro Selection for Fusaric Acid Resistant Barley Plants

Calli of two genotypes of barley,‘Dissa’and W 193, were used for selection of resistance against fusaric acid, a pathotoxin of Fusarium. Callus was initiated from 7- to 10 days old immature embryos. 1000 calli of the‘Dissa’and 500 of the W 193 genotypes were grown for 4 selection cycles on medium with 0.8 mM fusaric acid. In the first selection cycle, about 80 % of the calli were killed; after the 4 selection cycles, 8 to 11 % resistant calli were obtained and plants were regenerated. Resistant calli maintained on non-toxic medium showed retention of resistance ability after 3 months of sub-culturing. Plants could be regenerated from the surviving calli and testing by leaf bioassay revealed that many were resistant to the same toxin concentration employed for callus selection (100 %), while some were only resistant up to a concentration of 75 %.