Broad-spectrum resistance to crown rust, Puccinia coronata f. sp. avenae, in accessions of the tetraploid slender oat, Avena barbata

The use of race-specific seedling genes for resistance has been the primary means of controlling crown rust of oat (Puccinia coronata). As resistance genes from hexaploid cultivated oat, Avena sativa and, later, the wild hexaploid animated oat, A. sterilis, were deployed in oat cultivars, corresponding virulence in the crown rust population increased rapidly, such that the effective lifespan of a resistant cultivar in the United States is now 5 years or less. Introgression of resistance genes from diploid and tetraploid Avena spp. into hexaploid oat has been difficult due to differences in ploidy levels and the lack of homology of chromosomes between the two species. The wild tetraploid slender oat, A. barbata, has been a source of powdery mildew and stem rust resistance in cultivated oat but has largely been unexploited for crown rust resistance. In total, 359 accessions of A. barbata from the National Small Grains Collection were evaluated in seedling greenhouse tests. Of these accessions, 39% were at least moderately resistant when inoculated with a crown rust race with low virulence (DBBC). When tested further with a highly diverse bulk inoculum from the 2006 and 2007 St. Paul buckthorn nursery, 48 accessions (approximately 13%) were resistant. Many of these accessions were heterogeneous in reaction, but two accessions (PI320588 from Israel and PI337893 from Italy) were highly resistant (immune) and two others (PI337886 from Italy and PI367293 from Spain) consistently produced resistant reactions (chlorotic flecks) in all tests. Resistant accessions were found from throughout much of the natural range of A. barbata. Crosses of some of the better accessions have been made to cultivated oat.