Monitoring powdery mildew resistance in barley varieties

Powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei) samples collected throughout the south-west of Western Australia (WA) have been found by the Australian Centre for Nectrophic Fungal Pathogens (ACNFP) at Curtin University to have a wide range of virulences against the resistance genes deployed in our commercial barley varieties (Tucker et al. 2013). Given this new information, there is a need to examine the regional variability in the field response of barley varieties grown in WA. Examining the field response of a range of varieties across several environments, whilst sampling mildew isolates for laboratory testing, will provide feedback on field implications on the variability of isolate virulence and on potential instability of variety responses dependent on isolate dominance or regional variability.