Sources of resistance to septoria speckled leaf blotch caused by Septoria passerinii in barley

Septoria speckled leaf blotch (SSLB), incited by Septoria passerinii, has reemerged as one of the most serious foliar diseases of barley (Hordeum vulgare) in the Upper Midwest region of the United States over the last decade. The most cost-effective and environmentally safe method of preventing SSLB epidemics is through the use of resistant cultivars. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate sources of resistance to S. passerinii in barley and to determine the reliability of greenhouse seedling tests for predicting the adult-plant reaction in the field. From a preliminary greenhouse screening of over 250 barley accessions, 78 lines were selected and subsequently evaluated at the seedling (greenhouse) and adult-plant (field) stages for reaction to S. passerinii. All of the major malting (H. vulgare ‘Drummond’, ‘Excel’, ‘Foster’, ‘Lacey’, ‘Legacy’, ‘Morex’, ‘Stander’, ‘Conlon’, and ‘Robust’) and feed (H. vulgare ‘Bowman’, ‘Logan’, and ‘Royal’) cultivars grown in or recommended for the Upper Midwest region of the United States were highly susceptible. Highly significant correlations were detected between the infection response of seedlings in the greenhouse and adult plants in the field. Twenty-nine accessions exhibited resistance at both the seedling and adult-plant stages. The resistant accessions identified in this study were from geographically diverse regions and will be valuable in developing barley cultivars with diverse and broad-based resistance to SSLB.