Australian Scientists Developing Powdery Mildew-Resistant Barley Varieties

Plant breeders at the Australian Research Centre for Necrotrophic Fungal Pathogens (ACNFP) at Murdoch University are developing barley varieties with new resistance to the dreaded powdery mildew, the most damaging barley disease in Western Australia (WA). Caused by the fungus Blumeria graminis hordei (Bgh), the disease causes annual losses of $33 million in WA alone.

Researchers have discovered mlo, a gene which confers resistance to the disease. The gene, however, may cause a yield penalty and breeders resist its incorporation into new cultivars. The other sources of major resistance have a history of breaking down in a very few years. Now the ACNFP scientists are looking for alternative genes which will provide new varieties with a different form of resistance to powdery mildew. They are suggesting that farmers take an integrated approach including the use of resistant cultivars and fungicides.

"It is particularly important to find new ways of combating barley powdery mildew as growers are dangerously dependant on a single class of fungicides,"says Richard Oliver, leader of the study funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).

Read http://fw.farmonline.com.au/news/state/grains-and-cropping/general/wa-project-will-help-combat-barley-powdery-mildew/1760459.aspx for more information.