The results of evaluation of powdery mildew resistance in winter barley varieties in 285 Czech Official Trials conducted at 20 locations were analysed. Over the period, the number of varieties tested per year increased from four to seven in 1976−1985 to 53−61 in 2002−2005. To assess the resistance of varieties, only trials with sufficient disease severity were used. In 1976−2000, six varieties (1.7% of the varieties tested in the given years) ranked among resistant (average resistance of a variety in a year > 7.5) including NR-468 possessing the gene <i>Mla13</i>, KM-2099 with <i>mlo</i> and Marinka with the genes <i>Mla7</i>, <i>MlaMu2</i>. In 2001−2005, already 33 varieties (16.9%) ranked among resistant, of which Traminer possessing the genes <i>Ml(St)</i> and <i>Ml(IM9 </i> dominated. The proportion of susceptible varieties (average resistance ≤ 5.5) did not change in the two mentioned periods. Two-rowed varieties began to be tested as late as in 1990 (the first variety was Danilo), however, no difference was found in the resistance of two- and six-rowed varieties. Using an example of two pairs of varieties (Dura-Miraj and Marinka-Tiffany) with identical genes for specific resistance but with different resistance in the field, the efficiency of non-specific resistance is discussed. The resistance of domestic and foreign varieties was similar in 1994−2000; however, in 2001−2005 the difference was 0.75 point to disadvantage of domestic ones.
Variety resistance of winter barley to powdery mildew in the field in 1976−2005
