Preliminary screening of Avena sterilis L. for resistance to crown rust

Abstract

The best source of crown rust resistance genes (Pc) in genus Avena is a wild hexaploid A. sterilis L. In this study, accessions of A. sterilis gathered from European and North American gene banks, originated from 21 countries were evaluated at the seedling stage for crown rust reaction using the host–pathogen test and two Puccinia coronata f. sp. avenae isolates. Of the 45 oat accessions analyzed, 12 were resistant to one crown rust race (3.2). Resistance to both pathotypes used in the study was observed in two of the accessions, first of which was collected in Libya (AVE 2532) and second in Portugal (CN 26036). Further research is required to evaluate the genetic background of the discovered resistance, however, obtained results provide a valuable first step in the identification of new promising crown rust resistance sources.

Keywords

• Avena sterilis L.
• Puccinia coronata f. sp. avenae
• host–pathogen test
• reference lines